The FBI Came Close to Staging a Coup

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, in an explosive interviewwith CBS’s “60 Minutes,” said that in early 2017, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey, he and other FBI officials discussed the possibility of recruiting a cabinet secretary to help push the president out of office by using the Constitution’s 25thAmendment

McCabe further contended that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire when he was around Trump in order to gather evidence against him. (Rosenstein

McCabe, left, on “60 Minutes.”

denies the allegation.) McCabe said that Justice Department officials believed at the

time that Trump may have obstructed justice by firing Comey, and they worried that Trump was somehow under the influence of the Russian government. In the end, nothing came of the plan. Regardless of one’s feelings toward President Trump and his

policies, what McCabe is describing is nothing less than a coup attempt. It’s something that happens in weak or nascent democracies, following interference by the CIA perhaps. It should never happen here.

Trump has long had an antagonistic relationship with the FBI, the CIA and other elements of the intelligence community. Indeed, in early 2017, when news of the FISAwarrants and the private intelligence Steele dossier began to leak out, Trump began to tweet his disgust at news of impending investigations of him, his campaign, and his business dealings.

The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded almost immediately, saying “(The president) is being really dumb to do this.” “This” was to take on the intelligence agencies, the so-called Deep State, in public. A few days later, Schumer went on MSNBC to sharpen his warning to Trump, saying, “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community—they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

But Trump was right. The intelligence community—the FBI, CIA, the NSA and other three-letter agencies—are too powerful, too entrenched and two well-funded. And they have far too little oversight. They’re a threat to our democracy, not the saviors of it. That is why it pains me to see Democrats lining up behind them to attack Trump.

Presidents Come and Go

I was a member of that “Deep State” throughout my 15 years at the CIA. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the CIA doesn’t care who the president is. Neither does the FBI. Senior CIA and FBI officers are there for decades, while presidents come and go. They know that they can outwait any president they don’t like. At the very least, at the CIA, they could made administrative decisions that would hamstring a president: Perhaps they don’t carry out that risky operation. Maybe they don’t target that well-placed source. Maybe they ignore the president’s orders knowing that in four years or eight years he or she will just go away.

McCabe’s almost offhanded comments on “60 Minutes,” that the FBI actively considered deposing a sitting president should be cause for alarm. Set partisan politics aside for a moment. We’re talking about deposing a sitting president. We’re talking about wearing a wireto catch a sitting president saying something because you’re angry that he fired your boss. Even the idea of it is unprecedented in American history.

The FBI is perfectly free to investigate collusion. That’s what they ought to be doing. But they ought not plot the overthrow of a president, no matter how quirky and offensive he may be. That’s anti-democratic and illegal and it harkens back to the bad old days of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover and the CIA before the reforms of the Church Committee.

We have a way to depose presidents. They’re called “elections.” The FBI should familiarize itself with them.

John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act—a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.

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223 comments for “The FBI Came Close to Staging a Coup”

This article is bogus and is an example of reporting fallacy so as to be a part and parcel of the on-going, ‘big lie’. Trump is an owned, neutered, frontman mouthpiece of the powers-that-be. So is the office he temporarily occupies. Everything this orange-haired moron does or doesn’t do, is dictated to him by his handlers. This nimrod doesn’t even have the power/authority to select which tie he is going to wear on a given day. Does anyone with an IQ above that of a retarded earthworm, and 95-97% of the American public, really believe that the FBI, also owned and controlled by the same cabal, is going to, or is able to, make a decision to oust this frontman? If the cabal wants Trump gone they will successful have it done by whatever means they decide to use, etc. They haven’t and probably will not make that decision. But, it’s their call, as they are at the highest seat of power and control, and none of their ‘minions’ are allowed to counter their wishes, and that includes the FBI, or elements within. The only people that can trump and eradicate this situation(a play on words), is the 3-5% of the population, that have the values, will, and determination, and ability, as determined by history and research, ussing guerilla warfare tactics, initially, etc. I haven’t seen them activate yet?

MCA

February 23, 2019 at 06:57

Just wanted to let you know: This is my first time visiting Consortium News. I’ve been looking for alternative news sites because I’m sick of the bias and division that is perpetuated by mainstream news.

I enjoyed this article, and look forward to reading much more of your content.

As for the story itself, I’m amazed at how little coverage this revelation by Andrew McCabe is getting on main line news. I guess it should come as no surprise.

25th Amendment? But Trump is fit as a fiddle! What about AOC? She’s a dancing nitwit Communist! What about Tulsi? She’s a Hawaaian Punch drinking Hindu! What about Bernie? He’s an atheist Jew who believes in voodoo economics! What about removing *them* from office? They’re worse than crazy! Something something build the Wall to keep the loonies in the bin! Something lock them up!

The term “Voodoo economics” is no longer relevant. Bush the Elder used the term against Reagan regarding “Supply Side Economics” and the Laffer Curve, etc.. We are way far past Trickle down economics now. Light years. We are post-trickle up economics. Quantitative Easing>QE3 and the radical economics (Capital expansion at Central Banks of allies only) of the Bernanke Fed which, by the way, worked beyond all expectations. Now with SWIFT and Sanctions based Foreign Policy accepted by all we are all in a fantasy world . I’m saying, you have to do better with Bernie than that and can are an atheist really be a Jew? Why have a bar mitzvah then ? Forgive me, I’m Goyish. AND frankly Tulsi Gabbard being Hawaiian with a tan and an easy smile, if she likes Gatoraid that’s good with me. OK all deflection aside If you want to hurl insults, even facetiosly, then you should be able to appreciate Trump. He is good at it .’Pocahontas’ was quite appropriate though perhaps a bit puerile . Overall yeah, he sucks and I voted for his silly ass. . Now surrounded himself by the two worst scumbags I can think of, Bolton and Eliot Abrams, well I take it back, Stone and Manafort were way better at scumbagosity than them. Anyway I’m sayin’ politics is an ugly business and these people (sic) with the exception of Gabbard are not attractive people. Why shoot fish in a barrel it’s a waste of ammo. Just knock the barrel over and when they quit floppin around so much just throw ’em in the deep fryer. Have some friends over and drink beer.

DavidH

February 20, 2019 at 22:41

Someone mentioned Article II. Guess that meant the “take care” clause? Or did I read that at Empty Wheel?

I can’t help but think Russiagate and this crescendoing struggle with deep state are things Trump knows intuitively (maybe not consciously though?!) are functional distractions. Maybe he really doesn’t mind the turmoil, the risk? Fact is deep state is getting more and more of what it wants as the months roll on. Read the Lawrence article. And then Bolton blabs outright what he wants in Venezuela. They’re able to put all these nostalgia principles into play. Is Trump stoping’em?

27% oppose the wall. I’ve forgotten the percentage “against.” Whaddya yall think about the percentage that’s not worried about Russians run’n the next election…but worried about voter suppression and the Pubs steal’n it? I’d say it’s close to half of America.

I respect Kiriakou. But OTOH there seems to be sort of something like a “forgotten arm” coup going down. No literary plots ever saw it. “It Can’t Happen Here” close. Chomsky tried to warn us about somethin or other. But there was so much presumption about where we were going with Obama. Maybe really what it’s shown us (as R-gate forces us to get Ukraine distinguished from Russia in our minds) is that with HRC deep state would have gotten almost as much. Both parties were sending us toward trouble. And we didn’t see it. Deep state was dark and hidden…the subject of complex plots. But wait a minute…those plots were all over the place! So really, in that sense, there wasn’t anything “deep” about it any longer. It was prime time. But, as it had become prime time entertainment, to that extent real particulars had to be blotted out…in order to render a film not offensively political. They were blotted out too well?

Anyway, on the homefront there was no taking care to see that laws were enforced. There was care taken to see that they weren’t enforced. What we have to remember, though, is Clinton and Libya [and Honduras]. Those acts maybe seemed less reckless and dangerous…because of the way media reported them? Moreover, this time Russiagate made Clinton the white knight. Thus, easy to forget about Libya, and Trump was a racist of all things. Actually, Trump was understood as racist, and then the shock of it enabled the long shot Russiagate explanation. Of course, according to Palast it looks as though Trump didn’t need the Russians. Anyway…care taken to see they weren’t enforced…

“What we’ve seen, in agency after agency, is they have a scandal at the Cabinet level, the Cabinet official is forced out, and he—it’s always been a he—is replaced by a lobbyist. So, their response to ethics challenges in the Trump administration is to hire lobbyists who worked on the agency that they’re now going to be in charge of.

That happened at EPA, where there’s a coal lobbyist in charge, replacing Pruitt. It happened at HHS, the Health and Human Services Department, where Tom Price was replaced by a former executive of a drug company; and now at the Department of Interior, where an oil lobbyist comes in to take over for Ryan Zinke, who, as you just mentioned, by the way, leaves the department and goes and becomes a lobbyist himself…..” Robert Weissman https://www.democracynow.org/2019/2/15/new_interior_sec_david_bernhardt_may

DavidH

February 21, 2019 at 09:22

Sorry folks…28% want the wall, and 71% oppose it.

Laurie Clark

February 20, 2019 at 19:11

Using the 25th to remove an incompetent person is NOT staging a coup! Get a grip!

Replace an incompetent but well meaning individual from the presidency to be replaced by a war mongering deep state traitor like Pence. I don’t think so and neither does most of America. Let Trump finish his term and maybe support him on the things he is right on. Block the dumb and damaging policies but God no don’t had the government to the neocons and their Democratic simpathysers.

robert e williamson jr

February 20, 2019 at 18:06

Ray McGovern must be clairvoyant. After what Andy McCabe disclosed this weekend it seems Ray acquired his target squarely.

GIVE THEM HELL RAY.

robert e williamson jr

February 20, 2019 at 17:41

John is Karikou is in my estimation a national hero. I recently related a story to a friend about imn. 2009 John became the senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John had been a CIA middle Western Analyst and his work with the committee focused on the middle east, counter terrorism, piracy and counter narcotics issues.

July 31, 2014 CIA admitted they hacked Senate committee members computers. Brennan apologized to Feinstein and nothing else was done. CIA goes after John 2012 and he got six years.

This was a message to John and all others, “you have no secrets from us”, we know what you know about us. Intimidation at it’s raw form. So Brennan apologizes and the Senate investigators and whistle blower John Karikuo got the CIA “TREATMENT”.

CIA was clearly out of bounds here. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with Loch Johnson’s “Season of Inquiry Revisited” a history of the Church and Pike committees during the seventies investigations into CIA overreaches you might want to.

CIA is out of control and has been since 1947. Like the truth or not, this is the reality. The this book relates to story as told by Church staffer , Johnson, who does a terrific job of relating the story. The Senate Armed Forces Committee did it best to discredit and stymie the Senate investigations. Thing never got much better.

LJ

February 21, 2019 at 16:22

Jeffrey Sterling was more of a hero/victim with way less wiggle room just because/whatever.

Beverly Meyers

February 20, 2019 at 17:26

A country sabotaged by levels of Police, FBI, CIA have no country,

just Evil.

Dave Sullivan

February 20, 2019 at 13:50

“came close to a coup”….bs, Mccabe’s statements said no such thing. Anyone can talk about the 25th amendment, see ? Mentioned it right there, am I “close to a coup” ? Jes more “trump as victim” narative.

Will

February 20, 2019 at 20:42

it looks like no one here knows what the 25th amendment is for or how it works….which possible includes McCabe. It is designed to remove a president who is alive but in a vegetative state or if the president himself wishes to hand off power to the vice president d/t some infirmity. it was brought into being after the Kennedy assassination. No “cabinet secretary” (or secretaries) alone could depose a president using the 25th, although I suppose if the Dems controlled the senate they might be able to get rid of trumpy with a 2/3rd majority…as long as Pence wants it and trumpy is unable to protest for some reason . It’s odd that the author here is more concerned about McCabe’s odd statements than he is about Trumpy’s various obstructions of justice and attempts to be the unitary president George W. Bush could only dream of…don’t know if you guys had heard this but trumpy was trying to do multi million dollar business deals with reps of a foreign power right through 2017…and has consistently lied about it. Maybe the author should be looking into that, or trumpy’s continued interest in torture…

It’s not politically correct to this, but I believe everywhere there is:
“Corruption and Perversion”

“Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.” Lord Acton

Corruption and perversion exists in powerful places
Governments, Politics, Churches, schools: it disgraces
The judiciary, the law, medicine, the financial system too
Have some institutions become corrupted and perverted, in what they do?

Evil has infiltrated the so-called, “democratic system”
And corruption and perversion are beginning to blossom
“Rule of law” has become a sickening farce
And thinking people know, “the law is an ass”

But when a society goes mad, anything goes
And people can march naked without any clothes
The political class have succumbed, to so-called “marginalized groups”
And they approve their behaviour, and have become their dupes

Lies have become truths, and truths have become lies
And the propaganda promoters are also marketers in disguise
The establishment have become promoters of questionable lifestyles
And corruption and perversion is treated with acceptable smiles

Speaking against this descent into madness and filth
Is criticized as hate, from those that slander and insult
The abnormal and the twisted now rule supreme
And the establishment has capitulated to the dirty and obscene

The words man or woman, are becoming no longer acceptable
And multiple genders are declared truthful and permissible
Anyone objecting can be called hateful and phobic
If it wasn’t so sad, this denying of the truth, would be comic

The children in schools are forced to listen to abnormal garbage
By compulsory government edicts that come in a package
The parents are not consulted on what their children must be taught
And the heads of the children are being filled with compulsory rot

Children in some countries are victims of illegal wars
Slaughtered and murdered by war criminal curs
Their homes and their cities reduced to smoking rubble
By “right honourable’ hypocrites that are the scum of the devil

What will it take for the majority of people to, “say enough”?
Or have they become cowards, instead of being decent and tough?
Will they continue to bow to minority control, and show no aversion?
Or will they finally refuse to accept, corruption and perversion?

Trump is a gangster 2-bit street hustler. FBI has no reason to respect criminals.

Will

February 20, 2019 at 20:47

that someone like trumpy could be involved in NY real estate at his level for all these years and not ordered a hit on someone or had one ordered on his and his associate’s behalf somewhat strains the imagination…I could see his mentor Roy Cohn helping trumpy find the right people

G Chief.

February 28, 2019 at 21:14

He was elected by the American people. That’s democracy. I admit, democracy is imperfect. Sometimes it feels like mob-rule – seems like it feels that way you now. Nevertheless, the FBI SHOULD and MUST respect the American people. No?

Carl

February 20, 2019 at 08:24

Let’s see. Mr. McCabe’s wife was running as a Democrat for a Virginia state senate seat while he was number three in the FBI- he had enormous power for starting investigations. Political and otherwise. His wife’s campaign received a large amount of funding from Governor McAuliffe who had-at one time- been the finance chairman for Bill Clinton. Does anyone here but me see what could be obviously construed as collusion linking McCabe to Democrats?

The President is odd. His conducts have been abnormal. Still, Mr. McCabe’s behavior does not bode well with the US Constitution. Yes, it reminds me of the old days of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover and the CIA before the reformations of the Church Committee.

Instead of Russia, the FBI must investigate a more significant matter. The Israeli lobby, consisting of over 300 robust institutions and people, write key legislation and effectively control the President, Congress, the media, theological institutes, Hollywood, academia, and American public sentiment on the support of vile interests of Israel. Did America fight with Great Britain to obtain independence only to lose it to Israel? Imagine Iran was doing what Israel does to our system of government. Would it be acceptable?

Brian Murphy

February 20, 2019 at 09:12

….

I seriously doubt there were ever any meaningful reformations. Reformations would imply there are checks and balances on the power of the national security state by the Constitutional parts of the government. But the assassination of JFK showed that the checks and balances go in the other direction — from the national security state to the Constitutional parts of the government. This was evident again with the Anthrax attacks, in which Senators that voted against the Patriot Act received anthrax letters with weaponized anthrax made in the USA. There was also the recent revelation that Senator Feinstein’s office was bugged and her computers monitored.

When you view the government as a national security apparatus that disciplines the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches this FBI thing makes perfect sense, as do many other things.

…

Skip Scott

February 20, 2019 at 10:07

That’s the first I heard of the connection between the anthrax letters and the patriot act vote.

Brian Murphy

February 20, 2019 at 13:58

….

The research has been done by a retired Canadian professor, Graeme MacQueen:

I was still going to sea for a living back in those days. Between working 10 hours a day/ seven days a week for months at a time, and only having short wave radio broadcasts for news, I missed a lot.

Xavier Onassis

February 20, 2019 at 10:32

THIS:

Instead of Russia, the FBI must investigate a more significant matter. The Israeli lobby, consisting of over 300 robust institutions and people, write key legislation and effectively control the President, Congress, the media, theological institutes, Hollywood, academia, and American public sentiment on the support of vile interests of Israel. Did America fight with Great Britain to obtain independence only to lose it to Israel? Imagine Iran was doing what Israel does to our system of government. Would it be acceptable?

I am stealing your comment to share and I thank you for the perfect focus on what must happen first if we are ever to have peace and prosperity on this globe: freeing the usa from the Israelis and Israel firster zionists.

Will

February 20, 2019 at 20:49

the Israeli lobby sure, but what of the links between the Israeli government and the Kushners…?

But, the FBI DID NOTHING to remove Trump from office. On the other hand,m the EVIDENCE GROWS almost daily of TRUMP’S CORRUPTION & MISUSE OF OFFICE for his own self-aggrandizement & to PROTECT HIMSELF from legal accountability.

Rob Roy

February 19, 2019 at 18:39

I admire John Kiriakou no end but he says, “We’re talking about deposing a sitting president. We’re talking about wearing a wireto catch a sitting president saying something because you’re angry that he fired your boss. Even the idea of it is unprecedented in American history,” and that’s wrong. We’ve had assassinations of presidents and, as for the CIA, they’ve pulled off coups of presidents all over the world. They have no respect for sovereign countries’ borders whatsoever; there’s no reason they won’t do it here. They are a law unto themselves. As JK says, they don’t care who is president. Our presidents have no respect for sovereignty either since they’ve backed coups and wars illegally. The US is the worst country on earth for foreign policy and are always gearing up for another war, even overlapping others. Most people know the Russiagate thing was created by Hillary and is phony altogether. Trump, odious as he is, is right on that.
Now I’m going to scroll back up to read the other comments.

robert e williamson jr

February 19, 2019 at 16:05

Mr Kiriakou should be given a job and the authority to work on oversight of the intelligence community. He would be a great member of any such team.

Why aren’t CNN and MSNBC calling for the arrest of McCabe (potentially for treason)? I mean, McCabe is openly admitting to trying to ‘subvert American democracy’ like they claim so often that the $100,000 spent on Facebook ads supposedly did in 2016? Seems a bit of hypocrisy here – am I shocked? No.

michael

February 19, 2019 at 18:03

McCabe was fired by the AG for lying under oath three times. Michael Flynn was fired for lying under oath once; he spent a year in jail and his life savings on lawyers. McCabe and his wife were working closely with the DNC, just as Bruce Ohr and his wife were working for Hillary via Fusion GPS (at least Ohr had the good sense to tell the FBI over and over, even under oath, that the dossier was opposition reserach and unverified, and thus tainted; I initially though Ohr would be the scapegoat, but McCabe has leaped into and embraced that role.) I think McCabe should do jail time like Flynn, but he may be above the Law.

Rob Roy

February 19, 2019 at 18:42

Lying to the Senate is a felony but Comey wasn’t arrested. Happens all the time.

Mild - ly Facetious

February 19, 2019 at 18:12

Who’s Coup – ing Who?

The United States Federal Gov’t, under Trump, has Failed
to arrogate or appropriate the manufacture and sales of
OPIOID addictive drugs, in the face of 48,000 deaths 2017
that are predicted to rise to 200,000 avoidable deaths by 2025.

In other words, the Dark Cloud of Negligence by Gov’t Agencies will
continue to Take the Lives, thru the Power of Addictive Dependance
upon Pharma Prescribed Pain Medications where Accidental/Overdose
brings either Immediate Accidental Death or Habitual Dependance. …

The United States Gov’t Agencies were setup for,The Protection
of We The People Against Corporate/Gov’t Maladroit Infringement

Who’s Coup – ing Who?

Why doesn’t Az-hole Trump recognize the DRUG MULES of
Prescription Marketeers / War Profiteers inside his own cabal?
48,000 deaths in 2017 / 76,000 by 2022 / 82,000 by 2025–
Pharma gets away with murder as you Trump for a WALL !!!

The Administrative State was set as Protector of We The People
Against financial whims of Unprincipled lovers of Filthy Lucre

Who’s Dupe – ing Who?

Mild - ly Facetious

February 19, 2019 at 19:37

Why have so many Trump surrogates pleaded guilty to multiple Anti- United States / Pro Russian agreements/agendas… ?

OR; Does the TRUMP “WITCH HUNT” have some All Hallows Eve MOTHERHOOD of Subterfuge growing through multiple stages of PATERNITY, Labor Pains and/or Cover-ups until the Birth of MAGA explodes as a dud of ‘exceptionalist’ hype (on the 4th of July)

Until Then; Live Well (Honest-ly) , Eat Well, Drink Fresh Juices and take deep breaths of Fresh Air . …

Mild - ly Facetious

February 19, 2019 at 21:45

How could, even expert Criminals in the Washington Establishment, stage a Coup against that Nasty, Nasty Roger Stone, who has been a Dirty Trickster in GOP presidential cunning since the times of Nixon.

Stone has sprinkled Sleaze and Right Wing presidential ruse and subterfuge, and bragged about it for decades !

He needs to have his hat and gloves placed in the cell, on his bunk, inside a Federal Penitentiary – commensurate with all the decades of Sleaze Ball, Despotic Dirty Tricks /Lies he’s perpetrated on honest American polotians thru out the past several decades.

Stone and Trump are partners with the Devil, and, are lawless, contemptuous felons who’ve escaped Justice for too many decades.

Here’s wishing/hoping they do not escape their well deserved Wrath of God this time.
…

pappagone

February 20, 2019 at 06:02

the three digit agencies are perfectly able to stage coups, (internally and/or externally), and despite having did many times that operations they are worse than that, they kill presidents (internally and/or externally) , there are very often many clues if not proof that these mafious organisations (which don’t change when presidents change every some years . . .) are perfectly organisated to steal money, stage coups and false flag ops, organize drug businesses, and whatever necessary to their objectives.
Not only, that entities have no problems to associates with mossad, MI6, and saudi or pakistani secret services to stage whatever functional to their evil rogue objectives (often to take personally money and / or whatever they wants.

robert e williamson jr

February 19, 2019 at 13:25

Your kidding me you won’t post my last comments. Well in the Army I got my clearance and as far as I know the FBI has never considered me a threat to national security. I got out with a good conduct medal and my Army of Occupation medal for occupying Berlin 1968-70. No regular Army for me I got drafted.

No matter, I owe an apology. Pence’s speech I was referring to was in Munich. He didn’t fair much better in Warsaw though.

Come on and wake up kids it’s time to take of the gloves and go bare knuckles against tyranny!

I’ll be Dogdamned if I ever apologize to this Tyrant. Or his #1 & #2 buddies, BENNy nadayahoo and Puttie!

Dog give me strength.

robert e williamson jr

February 19, 2019 at 12:49

Let me get this straight. The top guys at FBI talked to the “Gang Of 8” about VINY, “village idiot from NY City’ , over concerns he posed a threat to national security. And no one voiced a dissenting opinion. Hell maybe they didn’t ask questions either.

So what does this really mean?

I think it explains why Paul Ryan got the hell out of Dodge. Smart guy. “VINY” needs to be placed in a padded room for his own good!

My DOG you cannot make this stuff up!

YES I AM, and proud if it, a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac. I lay awake all night wondering if there is really a Dog!

Antonio Costa

February 19, 2019 at 10:13

For me, there has always been a clear distinction between Trump and his policies, and the Russiagate manipulation to oust him from day one, before he ever assumed the office.

That is an important distinction. Trump is a continuation of US thugness minus the aw shucks of the Bushes and Reagan, and the smooth veneer of Bill Clinton and Obama. His desire to rule seem so scattered as to make that nearly impossible, even with the table long set for the imperial POTUS.

Russiagate is a nefari0us effort by the security state to sharpen the focus on the enemy of the moment (Russia/Putin), one that justifies existence of the military industrial congressional media complex. Trump was tagged because it was less than clear where he stood vis a vis policy with this fresh “enemy”. As one poster noted, the security apparatus has demonstrated its willingness to assassinate any leader of any nation, including the US. I suspect each elected POTUS is under degrees of control manipulation (GHW Bush a member of the deep state was probably least effected). With Trump, everything becomes public. The irony is that Trump, due to his loose lips is perhaps presiding over the most transparent administration – and the ugliness is overbearing for those who prefer their POTUS to act presidential, coy and within bounds.

Being an enemy of the security state – as Trump is, doesn’t make you a good person, but it does force the alert citizen as to what kind of nation we are, past, present and likely future for some time.

Jeff Davis

February 20, 2019 at 11:35

Damn fine comment. Rational, articulate, civil.

A complete break from the Kool-Aid saturated, spittle-flecked rantings of the Trump-hate crowd.

Americas war with itself is paralyzing the country when we are most in need unity and discipline in order to pull the country out of its death spiral. The National Security Dictatorship’s control from the shadows is now out in the open. Now exposed as having declared war on Trump, will it be able to crawl back into the darkness if and when it destroys him? Or will the citizenry now have to live with the undeniable truth of the Dictatorship that owns them? Or will Trump win? Or will the death throes of the National Security Dictatorship end with “refusal” and nuclear annihilation?

We live in interesting times.

Dave P.

February 20, 2019 at 17:29

Agree with Jeff Davis. Excellent comments.

Anona

February 27, 2019 at 10:37

Yes, what you see is what you get with The Donald. AND I am amazed he is still breathing!

[coups] should never happen here (?) Really? What was Bush41 doing in Dallas? Who’d here work for? What happened?

Right…

Since then it’s an established secret policy… Ask (fake) president Ford and coup-deposed Dickie Nixon…or even Jimmy Carter.

Dave E

February 19, 2019 at 03:23

There’s already been an American coup – November 22, 1963. The book JFK And The Unspeakable explains why it had to have involved high ranking members of the intelligence community and military as well as a few members of the Dallas Police Dept. Several mobsters may have been involved but they could not have done it themselves. Mobsters have no authority to call off military units as described by Colonel Fletcher Prouty.

Steve

February 20, 2019 at 13:00

Yes, and every president since then is fully aware of it. That is why Obama, getting elected with high and mighty talk about a new, more peaceful way, suddenly became a warmonger in office. He go the message from the MIC early on and did not want to end up where many blacks used to end up, hanging from a tree. Trump may not be too smart, but he is smart enough to keep his own security people…

Even if Russiagate does not depose Trump, all future presidents will get the message again that was so crudely spoken by Chuck Schumer.

Lucy

February 19, 2019 at 03:06

John Kiriakou is a great boy!

Ann

February 18, 2019 at 23:35

Trump isn’t just a nuisance. Trump is a menace intent on becoming dictator. Hitler is his role model. He has an unknown percentage of the top U.S.military officers behind him. If Trump isn’t forcefully opposed, we could be primed for hell on Earth. I am not looking forward to the next 10 years, or maybe until the end of time (on and near Earth.)

no…you both have it wrong and right,in varying degrees…it’s a rat fight between 2 groups of people, neither of which are worth a damn, however Trumpy is encouraging naked fascism while attempting to run the US more like his idols do in Russia, now Brazil, and soon, so many other places. that’s not a good thing, my friend-no idea who Stephen Miller is? Bannon et al?? There is a certain type of person who despairs at inequity, real and imagined from both on the far right and the far left and thus these folks really want to see chaos reign by any means; including via the semi illiterate criminal Trumpkin’s Samson act. this is hoped fort via either bringing on the end to the super power status of united states or by taking the gloves off and going full Austrian corporal on the world. quite a few of them reside here at CN and agree on a surprising number of points….

ibn insha

February 19, 2019 at 16:08

The usual rhetoric of anti Trump crowd. I don’t belong to Trump Fan Club but be fair. How does Trump threaten democracy or any body’s liberties? Talking is not a crime and is also protected, so let him.

“But they ought not plot the overthrow of a president, no matter how quirky and offensive he may be. That’s anti-democratic and illegal and it harkens back to the bad old days of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover and the CIA before the reforms of the Church Committee.

We have a way to depose presidents. They’re called “elections.” The FBI should familiarize itself with them.”

The gravest danger to Our Republic is when the most powerful people and organizations that help enforce our laws and Constitution feel that they are above the law. These agencies need review/reform and valid, reliable, and verifiable oversight should they continue to exist. If you want to join my protests in Miami send me an email. Start your own protest wherever you are. We should all be marching and demanding this review and overhaul immediately.

Mild - ly Factious

February 19, 2019 at 20:01

Ann, I’m terribly saddened by the fact that so many here apparently approve of this monster Trump.

Maybe it’s my age.

The Government Driven Death of Aaron Swartz ought to give us Lovers of True Freedom, a Platform.

When people wanted to believe the illogical allegations of some sort of Putin/Trump partnership (in spite of Trump’s dangerous measures against Russia), the FBI and CIA became icons of integrity so fast that I nearly suffered whiplash. I urge people to spend time learning (from reputable sources) about the history of both organizations. These are people who appear to have been above the law for a long time, and that’s a dangerous thing for this country.

David Otness

February 18, 2019 at 17:33

Thank you again and again, John.
If only someone like yourself and others of your proven-so-many-times integrity were not only in charge of the Three Letter agencies, but elected to serve in all of the higher offices, including the Presidency, if not especially the Presidency.
All of you working for the rest of us and for the nation’s future at VIPS in positions of true power would certainly change this trembling and wobbling on its foundations civilization. Would that it were so!
Truer compassionate patriotism I’ve yet to have seen in my 68 years upon this Earth.
Yours is a noble life-long mission, sir, and you deserve the appreciation and acclaim from all of us.
And as always, a salute to the memory of Robert Parry and his baby, Consortium News, a shining light for Truth in our times.

Excellently exposed, John. I never imagined that we could do worse than that ill-begotten SOB, J Edgar. Here we are and they all should at least be imprisoned.

The Hang Nail

February 18, 2019 at 15:20

You have to ignore an awful lot of context to take this article seriously. Anyone watch the speech Trump gave announcing the emergency act? You know the part about how great it is that China executes drug dealers? That’s just a small fraction of the examples of Trump acting unhinged that makes it extremely mundane that McCabe and others would contemplate invoking the 25th amendment.

Now step back and ponder that all they did was discuss it. No plans were formed. Generals were not contacted to inquire about their allegiance. You know, all the necessary things that would be needed if they really were serious about the 25th amendment.

Not a day goes by when our president makes a ridiculous comment where it is appropriate for us all to contemplate using the 25th amendment. How about that recent tweet about SNL. This is not normal and it is not appropriate for our president to be acting this way and it is just a continuation of his behavior from before and during the time McCabe and others discussed the 25th amendment. The crazy thing is that all they did was discuss it. And sure, they launched the Mueller investigation but look at all the lies they have undercovered. Folks, we have Trump on tape claiming he doesn’t know Russians nor do business with them. His team feigned ignorance about wikileaks and we now know Trump’s confidants were communicating directly with wikileaks. We know emails were actually and truly hacked and that is a major crime. That often gets ignored. We also know they impacted the election. But instead people get hung up on the Steele Dossier? As if Trump was an innocent flower until Steele came along. Come on. Grow up. We ALL know Trump stunk like a corrupt fish from the second he announced his candidacy. So stop acting like investigations and discussions of the 25th amendment are some kind of nefarious deep state plot.

nelswight

February 18, 2019 at 16:28

HOGWASH1

DEBORAH A LAGUTARIS

February 18, 2019 at 17:01

Yes

Martin Veltjen

February 18, 2019 at 17:41

No nefarious deep state plot, just a few hysterical rotten apples that have to be removed before they infect the entire basket.

DH Fabian

February 18, 2019 at 18:00

In other words, you believe the Clinton wing version of the Russian Tale? It really has run its course. On whether Trump personally knows anyone from Russia, who knows? And what would it matter? Before deciding to run for president, Trump had considered building yet another international Trump Tower, this one in Moscow. (Yes, folks, the Cold War is over, and US businesses have been doing business with/in Russia for decades.) Russia wasn’t interested, and that was the end of that plan. That was the closest Trump came to “collusion.” Since Trump took office, we have watched him setting the stage for war against Russia — reinforced economic sanctions against Russia, increased US/NATO troops near the Russian border (provocation), dangerously increased US “meddling” in Ukraine, etc. We saw the ignorant hysteria over the meeting between Trump and Putin. Heads of state routinely meet, and in this case, the international community strongly hoped that Putin could help Trump to see why a catastrophic war, US vs. Russia/China, would not be in anyone’s best interests. That is a good thing.

CitizenOne

February 18, 2019 at 23:37

This story about a failed coup staged by the intelligence agencies does not wash out with the facts. The facts are that some alleged conversation between government officials about invoking the 25th amendment to remove a president had absolutely zero chance that the alleged plan could ever work. For such a plan to ever happen, the framers of the Constitution raised such a high bar that even impeachment is an easier route than following the provisions provided under Constitutional law for removing a president by declaring him unfit.

The way that the 25th amendment works is that a 2/3rds majority in both houses of the Congress plus the Vice President must vote to remove a president who has communicated to the houses of Congress that he is actually fit for duty. Such an outcome is so unlikely that it has never before even been attempted but our national media presents the actions as tantamount to pressing a magic button to remove Trump from power. The magic button does not exist. Instead a super majority of our national elected leaders plus the Vice President would all have to vote to remove the president.

Obviously, any person in elected office under pledge to uphold the Constitution would be within their free speech rights to openly discuss the use of a legal Constitutional method to potentially remove a sitting president but why would they? Why would they not instead pursue the much easier course for impeachment?

We have become instantly fascinated and completely absorbed including our president with the fanciful notion that some officials almost staged a coup against the president. This was bolstered by the major media outlets including CBS which chose to make the topic a major piece on 60 minutes. The rest of the commercial press also began howling about a failed coup attempt with President Trump finally leveling accusations of treason against the as yet to be charged (and it will never happen) perpetrators of the alleged coup.

Even if all the “facts” behind the alleged treasonous plot were confirmed it would not prove anyone broke the law until it was prosecuted by the Justice Department and was found to be an actual violation of law. We are a long way off from that possible end.

But yet the media has done what it does best and has made a spectacle of the story about what may or may not be even true. Trial by media is becoming an increasingly dangerous way of manipulating public opinion based on hearsay and no evidence except somebody’s say so.

Similar trial by media events such as the case of allegations leveled against the Governor of Virginia and in the recent past against others have led to swift “justice” for those caught in the crosshair of the media. Al Franken comes to mind. Fake staged events engineered by conservative media have had considerable success in destroying their targets. The ACORN scandal comes to mind.

The conservative media waste no time investigating the facts but runs with sensational stories about George Soros funded illegal immigrant caravans who are accused of wanting nothing more than to kill us or elect democrats or steal jobs or ruin our economy or at worst dilute our precious nationalism with wave after wave of liberal funded invaders hell bent on destroying America. Just where is the evidence for that?

The hate funded by conservatives (A.K.A.) the super rich have but one purpose. Turn our attention to scapegoats and further their agendas in secret.

Back to the new coup allegations and just what are they designed for. The answer is to curry favor with the president and to gaslight Americans with bogus stories about how government officials are trying to remove President Trump from power.

This is a watershed event. As the media continues to distort any real threat to Trump into a Coup attempt to remove the president we are being led down the path of nationalism where the office of the president is seen to be under attack by government officials necessitating a countermove by the conservatives to rally around an embattled president who is under attack.

The only way such an attack would ever succeed would be if most of the Congress including those defending the president were somehow to magically support his removal. That is never going to happen.

So why is it such a big story? Control. The surest way to lead the public and follow the direction of the government and the president is to portray him as under attack. That is the goal of the media and the large commercial and conservative entities that fund the media.

Luis Fierro

February 19, 2019 at 12:57

Well put Citizen One. I also agree with Dave E, a coup has already occurred in USA back on November 22, 1963.

michael

February 19, 2019 at 18:20

Before 2/3 of the House and Senate each vote to removing the President, the VP and a majority of the Cabinet Heads (and the FBI is not involved) must agree that the President is unfit for office. (Alternatively, a “special body” to decide the President’s ability “as Congress may by law provide” (what is the odds that such a Law would pass in a bipartisan manner?) can take the place of the Cabinet.)

pappagone

February 20, 2019 at 06:07

but they are even have problems to stage one of the many coup (they did often in past) by killing presidents
they have great chances to make a killing even have problems to go in prison.
9-11
JFK
2nd Kennedy
killing of eyewitness (many in many occasions that we can’t enumerate them)

Deniz

February 19, 2019 at 07:55

Great commentary by you and Citizen One and I admit to finding it very difficult to determine what is going on in the circus we call a government, but an ongoing investigation by Mueller, the man responsible for whitewashing 9/11, into Russiagate with very little evidence, does seem like a direct attack on the presidency. Sure, if McCabe, et. al, were an aberration and not systematic, I would agree that it would be a big nothing. What is happening in RussiaGate occurring on a much grander scale, involving MSM, DNC, etc. then McCabe, which implies something far deeper that a few intelligence chiefs delusions of grandeur making offhanded comments.

These nothing, inconsequential figures have escalated a Cold War with Russia and thwarted any attempt of reconciliation by Trump. With the Billions, if not Trillions at stake for our Arms Dealers, Intelligence Agencies and Banks, think their motives are pretty clear. So, I fail to see just how innocuous these actors are. To me, they seem extremely dangerous and extremely powerful.

But, I also agree with you that the notion that Trump is a victim that needs to be saved by the people, stinks like old fish.

Joe Tedesky

February 19, 2019 at 11:23

Hang Nail you make sense and, I agree to how all that was contrived in conversation came to not. I also agree that it was merely ‘just a conversation’. I have to agree with you that Trump daily adds to the notion that he is ‘unhinged’. Surely somewhere in all that bombastic Trump world there must be something, anything enough to bring him down. Let’s call Trump watching something of a work project but, let’s not jump the gun and grab some hanging rope over bureaucrats having a conversation either.

Where you and I may separate is, where this collusion business try’s to always go at the heart of Putin. I mean given to how things went in Ukraine as, I won’t go into detail I’ll just refer you to Victoria Nuland, I think the USA has beaten Putin up enough… way too much in fact, and it worries me to the extent we Americans are going with all this Putin bashing. Yes tie the Donald to Russian Zio-Investment Thugs but, why always intimidate Russia’s sitting president with baseless allegations. Oh and where is the slam dunk evidence if let’s say Putin were undermining USA democracy? I’m getting tired of waiting for Mueller BTW.

So that’s it Hang Nail. I think you are right Rosenstein was just talking out loud and, McCabe is selling a lot of books… thanks 60 minutes. But we Americans should tread lightly when it comes to international geopolitical accusations of wrong doing… that is unless we have solid proof otherwise. Joe

Steve Naidamast

February 19, 2019 at 14:24

Does anyone really believe that a highly educated man like Vladimir Putin would get involved with such a corrupt, insidious, buffoon like Donald Trump?

Alexandra Vaughan

February 19, 2019 at 15:11

Oh my goodness. Just about every single thing you just wrote is incorrect. From start to Finnish. Lol Like ridiculously wrong.

Rob Roy

February 19, 2019 at 18:59

Hang Nail, you say, “His team feigned ignorance about wikileaks and we now know Trump’s confidants were communicating directly with wikileaks.” No, they weren’t.
You say, “We know emails were actually and truly hacked and that is a major crime” No, they weren’t. They were leaked, not hacked, directly from the DNC. That’s why Julian Assange is blocked off from the public, so people won’t hear him say, “How many times do I have to say it. The emails were leaked from the DNC?” NOT hacked by Russians.

O Society

February 18, 2019 at 14:28

I have the utmost respect for all the authors and commenters here at Consortium News. You guys are definitely smarter than the average bear. This is the reason I find it so difficult to believe so many of us fall for what is an unadulterated WWF Wrassling storyline. Donald Trump is the Greatest American Hero fighting crime? WTF?!? Try celebrity reality TV game show host instead.

Except that removal via the 25th CAN’T be initiated by an intelligence agency. Talking about a constitutionally permitted action, or even suggesting it to someone who can initiate it (e.g., cabinet members), is NOT tantamount to initiating the action. And if you really want to remove a president from office, impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate is easier and faster. And it isn’t unconstitutional to talk about impeachment, either.

DH Fabian

February 18, 2019 at 18:14

A president can’t be impeached solely on allegations. There needs to be a legitimate reason for assuming that the president committed an impeachable offense. If there is, then Congress has a sworn duty to launch a formal impeachment investigation. This doesn’t require the consent of all of Congress. To date, I’ve seen nothing to indicate that Democrats are will pursue that course. The tragic (for the country) bottom line is that Trump is most likely going to be re-elected in 2020. American voting habits. On top of this, the Dem voting base was split apart in the ’90s, and the Obama years confirmed that this split is permanent. It will take years for Democrats to build a new base.

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 07:39

Point taken Jack. You are correct. He is free to talk to anyone he pleases.

Patricia Duryee

February 18, 2019 at 11:31

Say what you will, reading these comments leads me to believe there are a great many people suffering serious delusions in America. Or perhaps, comrades, some of you have agendas that are impure. Discussing the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and its potential application to this President seems much more innocuous than defying the Constitution and abandoning the norms that have kept our nation alive. Those of you commenting who are Americans might do better with some critical though processes and assessment of the vast collection of evidence indicating that this President is acting as a Russian asset. Do we ignore Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos? Do we pretend Flynn was an innocent? Do we applaud Roy Cohn’s accolyte Roger Stone? Do we forget the one-on-one meetings Trump and Putin held where no American (save the interpreter) was privy to the meetings contents? Do we pretend Guccifer 2.0 was not the GRU in disguise? This is a small reminder of some of the public information that has been gleaned concerning Russia. The FBI not looking into the connections between Trump and Russia would have been derelict. It would have elevated the President to a status above the law, an acceptance that the office is not subject to the laws of the United States its other citizens live under. And as a response to one snarky reference to the Steele “dossier” above, so far none of it is disproven and much of it was borne out as factual. It was presented as raw intelligence and Steele himself said it was likely only about 80% accurate. He may have underestimated himself. Finally, it is true that the US has engaged in hideous black ops around the globe and within our own nation. Yet it is also true that sometimes a banana is just a banana.

Joe Tedesky

February 18, 2019 at 12:48

Patricia while I won’t attack your position, since you have a right to an opinion that differs with this comment board allow me to point out something often overlooked when scrutinizing Trump’s winning the White House. Do you think Putin put the American MSM up to granting 2016 candidate Trump almost 5 billion dollars worth of free media coverage? Could CNN & MSNBC being trashing Putin to cover their colluding tracks between these cable media corporate giants and this so-called Russian gangster, with their over the top odd amount of coverage these networks bestowed upon candidate Trump in this past presidential election? In fact have you ever seen our American media go so far out of its way to give a presidential candidate the amount of coverage that our American MSM gave candidate Trump? Why this commercial free coverage out done anything a few Russian click bait artist could have accomplished, but yet hardly a word is ever mentioned to the MSM favoritism which focused on candidate Trump like a hawk eyeing its prey from high above.

I won’t go into how the people you mentioned (Manafort, Gates, Papadopulos, and Flynn) weren’t indicted on any real hard Russian government collusion as much as, Mueller drilled down on the many other aspects of these characters past financial practices.

In the end I must ask you Patricia, why do you hate Russia so? Should not we who live in the biggest glass house on this planet first work towards making our country a better world friendly government? A government whom would encourage nuclear disarmament as, instead of pulling out of all nuclear agreements? Doesn’t it worry you that poking the bear could lead to such a world crushing catastrophe that this planet would not exist as we now know it? In fact just how much do you know about Vladimir Putin? I hope you aren’t relying on Rachel Maddow to fill you in on this Russian leaders expertise.

Peace Patricia. Joe

Skip Scott

February 18, 2019 at 13:05

Great reply, Joe. You are a real diplomat. I wouldn’t have been so kind. Maybe Patricia will expand her media horizons some more and begin to question some of her assumptions. I would have her start by reading Putin’s speeches and interviews to get a more realistic impression of him.

Joe Tedesky

February 18, 2019 at 15:47

Skip I have read many of your comments and, for the most part you keep it congenial and to the point yourself. I will say this though, that the greatest downfall of all this since Trump took office and his opposition went so daff crazy over all things allegedly to be blamed on Russian interference with no evidence, has split this country in half. Skip we Americans somehow got to get beyond this divide and start talking to each other. Patricia is one of many who I believe out number you and I Skip, so I take into consideration this is a problem of where one gets their news since the MSNBC audience way surpasses us here at the Consortium. I can only hope we Americans start talking to each other and, quit with this screaming at each other over what could be the result of too much ‘fake news’. I too have read almost all of Putin’s speeches within the last couple of years and, yes more Americans should do likewise before demonizing this legendary Russian leader. Peace my nautical friend. Joe

Leroy

February 18, 2019 at 20:17

Hi, where do you find Putins speeches? Thanks

Dave P.

February 18, 2019 at 21:36

Great posts Skip and Joe. Joe, Patricia is not alone affected by this nonstop propaganda of so called Russian threat to our democracy. It is in my home too. My wife (we are married forty eight years) goes almost insane when she finds me reading these articles on CN and other websites, shouting that I am reading about Putin. I have largely quit reading to maintain family peace.

It will be good for people to know what Russia went through during second World War. I will post the link to the short video of 45 minutes narrated by Burt Lancaster in 1970 on the siege of Leningrad for 900 days by the Nazies, in which almost total one million perished out of which about 700,000 died from starvation.

It was not the first time, Russia went through this experience with the invasion from the West. U.S. has not gone through any war on it’s soil. So, great majority of people do not know or can feel the death, destruction and pain suffered by people of many other Nations. Russians know about the horrors of War and they know what peace means.

This documentary is excellent. It is just a glimpse of the horror, Russians went through during second World War.

Dave it’s good to hear from and, I think we live parallel life’s. I too not only have my wife who hates Trump, I have my sister and a few other relatives that feel like your wife does. I’ve kind of hid in the background on many a family conversation… that is until my one daughter pops in. She takes my side because, she actually works at getting her news… she told me about Consortium and, she was pleasantly surprised I went on to inform her of how I’ve been reading it for years…she doesn’t read comments or, didn’t at least then. Recently what happened with my daughter happened with my out of town younger brother… so there is hope.

Anyway good to hear from you Dave.

Little known factoid for the Russia haters, I served in our US Navy. The father of our US Navy John Paul Jones is also the father of Russia’s Navy… being kind to Russia must be a sailor thing.

Take care Dave. Joe

nelswight

February 18, 2019 at 16:35

ome of our commenting seems motivated by bs other than the facts OR they are financially influenced. Some rubbishiness.

Patricia Duryee

February 18, 2019 at 17:36

Why do I hate Russia? Seriously? What a childish response. A childish response to that question would ask you why you hate America.

One need not hate any country in order to recognize the inherent evil and murderous intent and power grabs of its leaders. I do not hesitate to criticize my own country, our allies (yes including Israel) and others. Do I “hate” Vladimir Putin. Perhaps. I recognize him as a danger to my country therefore to me, my family and my fellow Americans. I most certainly do not trust him and the influence he appears to wield over our President frightens me. Putin is not looking out for my best interests, nor yours. Unless …

You do sound like a GRU troll comrade. Your comments have little to do with what I wrote. Like Steven Miller you seem to obfuscate to some other issue you feel more comfortable with.

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 07:36

Please get specific as to the dangers that Putin represents to the USA, and cite some evidence. Do you think he wants to start a nuclear war knowing that his country and the entire planet will be obliterated? Do you think he plans to send Russian soldiers to invade our shores?

I suggest you take the time to see Oliver Stone’s four part interview of Putin, and read this speech to the UN general assembly in 2015.

Patricia falling for Deep State propaganda and, being duped under a sense of blind patriotism doesn’t make you a patriot. The USA was founded by questioners. I’ve served our nation on a number of occasions and, have paid my taxes along the way never complaining. Keeping abreast to the real news and, not buying everything a MSM pundit tells me keeps me upright to see things for what they are. Sorry if I offended you but Patricia the reality is far from what the MSM is freaking out about. Thank you for shutting me down as a ‘Putin Stooge’…. in my world it means I’m well informed. Now I shall perform my comrade walk. Joe

Dave P.

February 19, 2019 at 15:23

Joe, Patricia is not alone. This nonstop utterly false propaganda of so called Russian Threat to American Democracy. by MSM for the last few years have affected majority of Americans. It is true of our home . My wife, who should know better, gets angry when she finds me reading CN or other websites shouting that it must be about Putin. She was in peace corpse in SE Asia during 1960’s.

Actual threat to American Democracy, whatever is left of it, is from utterly misinformed American Electorate. It will be educational to watch the following 45 minutes documentary narrated by Burt Lancaster in 1970 about the siege of Leningrad for 900 days during second World War in which one million people perished in the city of which about 700,000 from starvation.

It is a just a glimpse of what Russians went through during second World War. U.S. has never experienced an invasion on their soil and and majority of Americans have no empathy for feeling of suffering produced by wars.

I wrote this comment yesterday but was not not posted.

Deniz

February 19, 2019 at 10:25

American fears of the Dangers of Evil Foreign Men.

1/3 of the Nuclear Arsenal of the US is parked 20 miles outside my home in Submarines commonly referred Country Destroyers. America has wiped out at least 3 countries in the past 20 years, and untouchable Americans are ever focused on evil foreigners.

What exactly have these Evil Foreign Men ever done to you and your family?

Joe Tedesky

February 19, 2019 at 11:50

Well said Dennis. More of my fellow Americans should catch on too the fact that it’s always the same process… first make accusations and demonize then go to war. Joe

Deniz

February 20, 2019 at 03:29

Many mortgages and kids private schools are being paid off by ensuring the foreign boogeyman exists.

Putin is Santa Claus for the DC suburbs and Lockhead Martin.

Joe Tedesky

February 19, 2019 at 12:29

Patricia my original argument was based upon the fact that Trump got no big of a boost during his 2016 campaign as, he did from our American MSM with their granting him almost 5 billion dollars worth of free media coverage. What our MSM did was far more weightier than whatever a few Russian bots could have ever done….with Putin’s knowledge or not. Just thought I’d tell you that. Take care Patricia. Joe

If being a “Russian asset” involves looking to form working partnerships with other nations to further shared interests and address common problems, I’m all in. If being a “Russian asset” means respect for national sovereignty under international law, check that box too. Being a “Russian asset” might also involve the idea that poverty can be eradicated and social ills can be mitigated through international cooperation. Putin has spoken eloquently on all these topics.

Yes, too bad Donald Trump isn’t a Russian asset by the above definition. If Trump had somehow managed to effect the foreign policy paradigm for the better, his legacy would be hugely good. But he isn’t a Russian asset by my definition or yours. Policy and practice are business as usual.

Had Kennedy and Khrushchev not had a private back channel, we wouldn’t be here to tell about it.

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 07:41

Great reply Gregory!

Joe Tedesky

February 19, 2019 at 16:57

Gregory it’s nice too know that there are some of us who still want to talk. All through the Cold War years there was détente. Eisenhower’s speech in 1953 ‘the Chance for Peace’ was a reply to Molotov who reached out briefly to the USA when Stalin died. Oh but John Foster Dulles was having none of that as, he set the ongoing policy of hate… it’s better that way for business. Just though I’d say hi Gregory for you have always been good to me in the pass. Joe

Rob Roy

February 19, 2019 at 19:23

Thanks, Gregory. I, too, admire Putin’s speeches and what he does, the goals he’s accomplished and the goals he’s striving to reach. I’m sure you must have heard his speech to the nation May 1st. If a US president said what Putin said, people would faint with shock at the kindness toward the people, the desire to reach even the extreme outer reaches of Russia (11 time zones) to bring them healthcare and education that western Russia has, the raises for teachers, the higher income of pensioners, the cultural expansion for children and other benefits he wants for all Russians. At the very end of a nearly two hour talk, he mentions Russia’s defense and ends saying essentially, “We will never attack you, but if you attack us, we will retaliate.” There is zero to fear from Putin’s Russia. Our country is the “first strikers’ all over the world.

Gregory Herr

February 20, 2019 at 19:17

Skip, Joe, Rob — I think what unites us is the knowledge that wars are brutally tragic, propagated through deceit, and waged for profit. We share a sense of common humanity and social justice. We want war made obsolete to make way for a world where resources are put to much better use. Yeah Joe, all we are asking is to keep the dialogue open and Give Peace A Chance. I like the way you took “business as usual” and took it back to one of the shapers of the postwar U.S. foreign policy takeover by Wall Street Boys–John Foster Dulles.

Rob, I couldn’t agree more. They just want equal respect–and failing that, to be left unattacked. I’d take Putin at his word–on both the no first strike AND the retaliation.

rosemerry

February 18, 2019 at 18:41

None of the “evidence” has any legs. Using “comrades” as a pejorative term is a sad indictment of your thought processes and understanding of history. The Steele dossier??? GRU? This is really weird, and President Putin is not one to waste time on ridiculous antics like those the “Democratic party” finds credible, or that Mrs May in the UK persuades her “allies” to accept with only her word as evidence.

Chet Roman

February 19, 2019 at 11:15

This comment is the product of the conspiracy and lies by the intelligence community. Collusion is not a criminal act, conspiracy is and Brennan, Clapper, and the gang in the FBI/DOJ conspired to stop a presidential candidate and when he won conspired to get him out of office. With the complicity of the MSM who are political activists not journalists. The hysteria regarding Russiagate is just that, emotional histrionics because their (historically most qualified) candidate lost to a game show host. Almost all the crimes committed by the persons cited were committed after Mueller was appointed. The key person that allowed the treasonous FBI to obtain FISA warrants to spy on a political campaign, Carter Page, has NEVER been charged with a crime and walks free. The FBI had to state that he was (not might be) a foreign agent of Russia. And there is still ZERO proof except for the lies in Hillary’s dossier. And in the past Carter Page actually helped the FBI put a Russian agent in jail.

So it would be derelict if the FBI did not investigate whether Trump was a Russian agent? That might be true if there was any proof of a crime but when they started the investigation there was ZERO proof. Just the dossier, which was the product of the DNC/Hillary colluding with Russians through Fusion GPS (the only collusion with actual proof). Hillary was up to her eyeballs in criminal activity with Russia and others: Uranium One, Bill Clinton getting $500,000 for a short talk in Russia and with a private meeting with Putin, Bill getting $17 million for being a Honorary Chancellor at Laureate while Laureate gets $50+million in grants from Hillary, and others, the list is too long.

I am big supporter of John Kiriakou, both as a friend and a journalist. I have also been a huge supporter of Consortium News and will continue to be. Robert Parry was a shining example of what journalism should be all about. I am also no fan to what the CIA has done on the world stage, nor the FBI, particularly in terms of its actions during the 1960s. My book “Mary’s Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace” speaks to what I believe has shaped the world we now live in today.

However, I wholeheartedly disagree with this article. I am frankly relieved to hear that the FBI was contemplating and exploring the use of the 25th Amendment to get rid of Donald Trump. Had our congressional elected officials been willing to put the welfare of this country in their foreground, rather than protecting their own power grabs, our government might have acted as it should in these times of planetary crisis.

As a licensed clinical psychologist for nearly 40 years, what is missing from almost all the discussion about Trump in the media, and what he has done in his role as this country’s president, is the fact that we are indeed in the midst of a ‘national emergency.’ The so-called emergency is Donald Trump himself. This is a person who has a severe mental illness. It is far greater than just a ‘narcissistic personality disorder.’ It borders on his being a complete sociopath; and for someone like this to be in the position he now occupies, is a prescription for utter disaster, the likes of which we have only begun to witness for the last two years.

We don’t have two more years to wait for another election whereby he might be defeated politically. It is time for all of us to wake up to the horror that is now taking place. If you cannot see that this president is the most dangerous threat to the entire planet, you need to have your head examined !

Dao Gen

February 18, 2019 at 10:12

This opinion is very disappointing. I hope the writer will reread the Constitution. I believe he does not yet fully understand the legal foundations on which our nation is founded. The 25th Amendment should never be weaponized by a small elite coterie of self-righteous conspirators as a subjective, partisan method of annulling the results of a presidential election that was decided by the American people. Why is it necessary to say this? There is too much hate and condescension floating around in the air these days. What is happening to the Dem Party? I no longer recognize a lot of it. They seem to have forgotten that living in a democracy means you have to accept defeat about 50% of the time and take full responsibility for your own defeats. Annulling elections for political reasons disguised as pseudo-scientific diagnoses would be the fast lane to fascism. Trump was elected, but McCabe and his colleagues and Hillary were not. End of story. Mr. Kiriakou’s opinion is spot on, and I thank him for it.

Baba Duke

February 18, 2019 at 20:43

So, in your opinion invoking the 25th amendment and thus “annulling” an election is a “fast lane to fascism”? As opposed to what, Trump’s slow lane to fascism? You enjoy the journey that much? And by the way the 25th amendment does not annul an election; it removes a President who is unable to carry out his duty to the constitution and the people of the country. In that event who would become president? Why, the sitting Vice President who was also duly elected.

Rob Roy

February 19, 2019 at 19:51

Pence is more dangerous than Trump. Trump doesn’t believe in anything except himself as dictator. Pence is a true believer; i.e., far right christianity (which isn’t close to anything taught by Christ himself…if there was such a person), fascism and blood thirst for war.

Skip Scott

February 18, 2019 at 11:09

The most dangerous threat to this entire planet is the empire and it’s vision of a unipolar, neo-feudal world order. They are the reason we are not allowed to seek detente with Russia. They are the reason for our new nuclear arms race. Trump, and all previous presidents in my lifetime, are merely figureheads for the real sociopaths and their lackeys in the Intelligence agencies and the MSM. I would think being licensed clinical psychologist you’d realize who are the real evil ones. Trump is a buffoon, an entertainer meant to distract us from the real problems we face. And they won’t be solved by replacing him with another sociopathic shill for empire.

Lowell Googins

February 18, 2019 at 22:50

Concise and to the point.

Realist

February 19, 2019 at 05:07

You invariably see through all the crap, my friend, give penetrating explanations and recommend wise advice. And, I’m not saying that just because I completely agree with you most of the time. I can always appreciate the disciplined cognitive process you invariably bring to the situation. Maybe a residue of always anticipating what lies beyond the horizon during those many years spent at sea?

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 10:18

Thanks Realist. I always look forward to your comments as well. As for seafaring, I suppose it does bring a bit of clarity after some years, but it may have just been growing old that did it.

DW Bartoo

February 19, 2019 at 11:39

Skip Scott, I fully agree with Realist and much appreciate your response to the comment which seemed to fail to grasp that Trump is but a symptom of a more more pervasive and long established pathology, of domination and control, both patterns which, one would hope, practitioners of psychology can perceive as manifest in individuals, of a “type” long tolerated if not worshiped by a society long immersed in violence, from the very beginning, be it the genocide of native peoples or the enslavement of African peoples, be it the “body counts” in Vietnam, or the now studied indifference to how many are killed, maimed, widowed, or orphaned all over the world, in the names of all of us “good” and quiet USians.

When some US psychologists “develop” torture programs and many others happily engage in clever propaganda and fear-mongering to gin up a willingness to forego health care (not “insurance”) for the many, or rebuilding the infrastructure, or making genuine education, not inculcation available to the many, especially the young, that obscene amounts may be spent and “lost” building deploying and selling weapons of mass destruction or “calibrated” nuclear devices for “tactical” use, and when Trump is cheered and termed “Predidential” for using missiles by the MSM and the Democrats then, very clearly, corruption is ubiquitous throughout society and that Trump is but merely a bit player who does not even bother with the veneer of gracious humanitarian play acting so blithely characteristic of the pusillanimous fabualist who preceded him.

Skip Scott

February 20, 2019 at 14:31

Thanks DW. If I remember correctly “the veneer of a gracious humanitarian” is one of the skills of a genuine sociopath. They know how to play the game, but it’s all an act, they have no genuine empathy. “Pusillanimous Fabulist”!! Love it.

Any medical professional who deigns to diagnose an individual short of conducting an objective, in-person examination does a grave disservice to his or her profession.
Moreover, a coup is a coup, whether you like the target or not. For the record, I disapprove of anything with Trump’s name on it going all the way back to the early 1980s, but he was duly elected to office under the rules of the game, like it or not.

Trump ran against the BUSH neocons who wanted WW3 with Russia and Trump is tring to pull us out of the wars in Afghanistan and Syria while democrats cry for more WAR…….

Hillary Clinton was the neocon war criminal with the body count and refugee crisis and slaves in Libya and nazis in the Ukraine to prove it.Anyone who can defend that sociopath needs professional help.

You might seek help for TDS……The real horror is that Trump is being pulled to the RIGHT by Democrats who not only pine for WW3
with Russia but started a new coldwar based on lies and propaganda…..and are pushing Neo cons agenda…as they did under Obama…

Hillary Clinton picked Trump…..he was her pied piper…..only Hillary could cheat and still lose to her own Pied piper baboon and Hillary is less popular than Trump who is the least popular president in USA history…Trump is more popular than Pelosi and Schumer?……what does that say about Democrats?

The only disease was Hillary Clinton who not only corrupted the DNC and cheated Sanders who would be president today but she is a proved war criminal and sociopath with the body count and prison population to prove it.The FBI was working with the DNC and Hillary and created the bogus Stelle Dossier that was compiled from top Russia Government officials.Thats the only Russian collusion that can be proved….

As bad as Trump is he made Hillary look decent…..

rosemerry

February 18, 2019 at 18:48

As well, the 8 years of Obama saw thousands of elected officials throughout the House, , Senate, State governors go from Democratic to Republican control, and the 2016 election was a follow-on to this big gradual change, hardly unexpected as you show.

Cratylus

February 18, 2019 at 16:11

If you are indeed a clinical psychologist, I suggest that you resign at once because making a diagnosis without seeing the patient is unethical to say the least. Had you not cited your credential, your writing would have simply been layman’s psychobabble but you are trying to give it a professional gloss. So you must resign.
But as far as clinical psychology goes (and most of psych for that matter), it is a bogus discipline having little relation to genuine science. In fact people involved in the genuine sciences often find the discipline of psychology downright ludicrous.
With that in mind, you should probably keep quiet about your professional credentials; it would give you more credibility.
And as far as diagnoses go, I will offer one – not as a pro of any sort but just as a layman. You have a severe case of TDS. First step to healing, swear off MSNBC. Next, answer no email that is labelled DNC or DCCC. Finally to get good insight into what those wonderful guys at the CIA and FBI are like, I suggest you masquerade as a jihadist and check yourself into GITMO. There you will learn a lot about the operations of the Deep State up close and personal.

Baba Duke

February 18, 2019 at 23:28

It is sad that you choose to live your life in such profound ignorance. But it’s your life, so good luck with that. It is embarrassing, for you, that you broadcast your lack of comprehension of psychology in a public forum but, again, your choice to make.

DEBORAH A LAGUTARIS

February 18, 2019 at 17:03

Yes! Consortium News is being taken over by right wing conspiracy theorists. I am happy the FBI is resisting this mess of a President.

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 10:24

It’s funny, I’ve always thought of myself as progressive. Not too many right wingers vote for the Green Party. Read “JFK and the Unthinkable” and “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” and you may change your mind about our so-called “Intelligence Agencies”. In fact, the pejorative term “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA to poo-poo any questioning of the JFK assassination. Looks like it worked on some folks.

Adrian Engler

February 24, 2019 at 12:44

If you compare the Russiagate conspiracy theory and the idea that secret services interferred in politics and spread rumors for which they had no evidence – perhaps in order to remove Trump, almost certainly to constrain his foreign policy options -, you see that there is no evidence for the former, but plenty of evidence for the latter.

So, you want the FBI and the CIA instead of elections to determine who governs the country and call this „protecting the country“. Then I ask you to be honest to yourself and to others and to recognize that you are a fundamental enemy of democracy and the rule of law.

I certainly don’t like Donald Trump and have political views that are very different from his in almost all areas of politics (if Trump has discernible positions, at all). But I find all that talk about Trump being such a big threat that democracy should be abolished and full power handed over to the FBI and the CIA which should not be bound by any rules completely crazy. Donald Trump is the biggest threat? A bigger one than G. W. Bush, the wars started on the basis of lies, and the PATRIOT act? A bigger threat than Ronald Reagan who, in contrast to Trump really demonstrably used collusion with hostile foreign forces (the hostage takers in Iran) for the elections and went on with crimes (Iran-Contra affair, financing death squads in Latin America with dealing in narcotics) after being elected. It is also quite interesting to see how there is talk about Trump being a dangerous fascist when he talks about retreating US troops from somewhere, but when he sends rockets to Syria (an aggression that is illegal under international law), nominates neocons, or threatend Iran and Venezuela, the „liberal“ press scales down the attacks on Trump – obviously, the attacks have little to do with worrying about democracy, but very much with worrying that Trump might not be a sufficiently neoconservative war hawk.

Anon

February 19, 2019 at 13:09

Peter Janney’s “Mary’s Mosaic” is a valuable book. It offers perspective on the American ruling class I have not found elsewhere. He was born into it, as it happens, and was early disillusioned by its machinations.

If we reconstructed the “deep state” which I take to mean the intelligence and public safety agencies, would they simply be rebuilt to do the same by the forces outside the deep state. There is nothing about these agencies that could prevent to deconstruction if that is what those really in power want. Who are those in power? An honest assessment could come up with a pretty good list.

Opened to Yahoo this morning and the headline was about McCabe concluding that Russia and Trump had colluded and firing Comey was an obstruction of justice. Let’s fantacize. Then he and the other guy talked about what to do about it. So let’s incapacitate him. Article 25. Or what else can we do that is even quicker.

The thing that sticks out is McCabe’s emotional defense. The country was being threatened. The President has got to be stopped.

What if instead, the two fellows talked about what are we going to do with a guy that is threatening the whole deep state apparatus and looked at the options. Were they really convinced that the country was in dire peril or that they were.

However, for those who know some of the key history of the FBI, it comes as no revelation and no surprise.

J. Edgar Hoover literally intimidated his way through Washington for years.

He had his special personal and confidential files bulging with blackmail-quality stuff on Congressmen, Senators, and even Presidents.

And he used it, regularly, in quiet little meetings full of innuendo and implicit threats.

And how about the FBI’s colossal failures on the Kennedy Assassination and 9/11? Oh, and there’s the TWA Flight 800 downing, clearly by a US Navy Missile released in error, endlessly lied about.

In the case of Kennedy and 9/11, the events are coups of a sort. I don’t think the FBI did them, but it sure as hell did not investigate them and bring the bad guys to justice, and it sure did not prevent them. I’d call that total, crisis-level failure, if not actual playing footsie with coups and internal terror.

The FBI has always been a crappy excuse for a national police force, and I don’t understand anyone’s talking about the organization’s reputation or integrity.

It never had any, except in its huge output of self-serving propaganda.

‘Hanlon’s razor is an aphorism expressed in various ways, including: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”‘
I worked in government for six years and was told my branch (NIH) was the most efficient part of government. It was a zoo. For most of the FBI I’m sure just getting to work fully clothed is their biggest accomplishment of the day.

LJ

February 19, 2019 at 14:14

Hoover did something right first off with the first class of recruits. . He got rid of the pinheads. You must know the story of how Nixon leveraged Hoover and turned him to a supporter when Hoover challenged Nixon regarding discussions of back channel Peace Overtures with North Vietnam which came from an illegal wiretap on Nixon’s Campaign Plane. Nixon pointed out that the wiretap was a Criminal act and would lead to his immediate dismissal and probable incarceration. if it came to light. Things have changed. Boys will be boys. I wonder if Hoover was still around in 1980 if he would have approached the Reagan Campaign regarding back channel negotiations regarding the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

The great difficulty for America to be a democracy today is the nature of the society that’s being regulated. Back in the days of FDR and a few others there was an openness to discussion and a willingness to defend one’s opinions. Today when people in positions of power are questioned and their decisions examined, they seldom recant or even satisfactorily justify their positions.

If you go to India or China and a great many other countries and listen to the debate there is a flexibility amongst officials. When wrong decisions are exposed as wrong they are abandoned. In America I fear someone exposing a wrong decision will be sacked. I think the reason for this is the social commitment to violence as the arbiter of everything. That commitment derives from the competitive nature of society, winners and losers and it characterises everyone, even Little League teams.

I don’t say its wrong but it needs serious restraint to enforce probity on officials. Duelling would work. It might be adequate to oblige a public man to speak cautiously.

micheal

February 18, 2019 at 17:31

Roosevelt’s “DNC” made him give up a brilliant VP in Henry Wallace, who was “too soft” according to the hawkish morons in charge of the Party at the time. I don’t think things have changed much in 75-80 years.

CitizenOne

February 18, 2019 at 22:02

I’m not sure that things are any better in China or India. The big difference is the size of our military budget and our superpower status since victory in WWII. We even “defeated” the USSR and that was the largest cold war enemy.

Today, China stands to be the World’s biggest economy. A far cry from where China was at the end of WWII. They accomplished this through intelligently offering their services for a steep price. The labor cost was very attractive to foreign investors who off-shored much of America’s manufacturing with the caveat that there would be a “partner company” which was Chinese that would at first be the middleman negotiating the complex and deeply different closed society which was shut off from direct western control. This started under Nixon and continues today. Clinton was widely criticized for giving away our intellectual property to China but the fact is that this process which is mandated by China as a precondition for doing business there has been consistently complied with by every administration.

While this long standing policy has been a win for manufacturers, China has by now amassed the technology to go it alone and has the technological prowess to go on to design and development of much of the technology that now dominates our interconnected world. Chinese companies are now branching out across the globe to offer the technological solutions to fill the demands of a developing world and they are excelling at it.

While Chinese companies are building global infrastructure and developing strong economic ties to many developing and developed countries offering to provide services for building roads and transportation as well as providing the telecommunication and power distribution services needed to grow, the United States is embroiled in internal politics and has little vision for doing the things that China is doing. We are more concerned with fighting against global trends and fighting global initiatives to preserve the business models of US corporations that use old technology. Fighting against international treaties to halt Global Warming to preserve the interests of US oil conglomerates and fighting against other nations militarily to preserve huge defense spending budgets justifying them by conducting wars are examples of our defensive positions guarding long held business models that saw America rise to prominence a long time ago.

The risk is that there is either a growing trend away from those business models like oil based economies which will leave us vulnerable to foreign competition.

The problem is that the government has essentially become beholden to these businesses and companies which now control elections and thereby control the government. There is a logjam of technology which could catapult us to global economic success as the old guard clings to its old business models.

The fact that other countries like China are growing their economies based on new technology while America refuses to engage them with lots of politics and actions of elected leaders hand picked by the commercial establishment to keep us on a course which has no future.

One example is how the media and the government have attacked the New Green Deal alleging that supporting it will lead us to economic ruin by creating socialism and a socialist state. Much like the rich and powerful people opposed the original New Deal, the opposers of the Green New Deal see new regulations as killing their businesses rather than a way to succeed with new opportunities.

There is a way to predict which companies will succeed and which will fail under new regulations and it is quite a simple test of their mindsets. Companies that fail economically will cling to their old business models and will fight any regulations and companies that succeed will find golden opportunities to take advantage of new opportunities afforded by the regulations. It is not really an argument that regulations will hurt companies in general but it is true that regulations will hurt companies that try to fight to preserve their old business models and fail to see new opportunities.

This story is not being played out on a local national level either. There is great competition between companies and the governments that regulate them. Take the example of the US which seems fixed on attacking Venezuela not for their oil but because they are socialists. What we really seek are the monies that flow from their natural resources. On the other hand, China has begun to tackle the problems of finding ways to provide clean energy and investing in the economy of the future. This is a stark difference and does not bode well for the US economy in the long term.

Another minor example are the recent pledges by US poultry producers who now disavow the use of antibiotics. The regulation by FDA was lagging for years although the science was in that the practice of feeding antibiotics to farm animals was a root cause for the creation of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria causing a major public health concern. Why now do these same companies disavow and abandon antibiotic feed? It is because they face a clear choice. Continue the practice and find their production banned by many nations that have already enacted regulations and face declining market share for exports or adopt foreign regulatory practices. US companies facing having their exports banned if they continue have switched course because of foreign regulation pressures.

It is predictable that the global interests of US companies will increasingly face pressure to adopt international standards and laws if they want to compete in a global marketplace. To this end it would be wise for the USA to stop digging heels in and trying to block international regulation and decide to assume a leadership role. But that will only happen when we stop blaming all the problems on government and start trying to see the opportunities on the horizon.

The business of the government is business and it needs to have a clear and strong hand to guide companies filled with members of the Board of Directors that only see quarterly P&L statements and are incapable of breaking out of the status quo.

war is coming

February 17, 2019 at 21:37

See the real connection between the fake Steele Dossier and the Skipal hoax.The UK MI6 is behind everything with Australia and Nato.
War with Russia is coming to avoid the Brexit.It has been planned 5 years ago.The Brexit is just a good excuse.

The continued NATO harassment, sanctions and campaigns of lies and false accusations against Russia, including the blatant war rhetoric of the British Defence Secretary, do not bode well for the future. For the US to tear up nuclear arms treaties and then blame Russia is beyond shameful: it is destroying all possibility of negotiations to avert war. The Kerch Strait incident staged by the puppet regime in Kiev, sending gunboats into the Kerch Strait without observing the 2003 Protocol requiring them to notify in advance the Port of Kerch (a protocol observed by the dozens of ships that go through the Strait peacefully every day) was clearly part of a NATO plan to set up a major naval clash in the Black Sea. That clash (followed by an attempt to recapture Crimea or at least blow up its magnificent bridge, a reproach to a man who cannot even build a wall) may be expected in coming months, perhaps as a distraction from Brexit or a way of derailing it. NATO, in short, is on a clear trajectory towards war with Russia, which their deluded worldview convinces them they can win. Their initial use of Russia as a scapegoat and bogeyman to unite the NATO vassals against a common threat, keeping Europe in subjection to America, has got out of hand, and is heading, under the impetus of hysterical rhetoric, towards actual war. Unless decent people unite to stop this escalation then the nuclear catastrophe will occur. Exposing the barefaced lie of the Skripal false flag attack may be a step towards averting that global cataclysm.

I took the time to read the 25th amendment to the Constitution. The fourth section covers how the government can remove a president In order to do that the Vice President and 2/3rds of the members of both Senate chambers need to sign off that the president is unfit.

That is an extremely high bar. If people in the FBI were discussing the possible route of using this never before used option to get rid of Trump via the clause in the Constitution then they must have known that the likelihood of getting the needed votes was statistically impossible. Does anyone believe Pence and McConnell are going to sign that let alone 2/3rds in both houses? It’s never gonna happen and if by some magical process it did there would inevitably be a constitutional crisis over it.

This article and the general tenor and tone in the media seems like some witch hunt is being developed this time gunning for the FBI and the intelligence agencies. Everybody seems to be on the “FBI Staged a failed Coup” bandwagon but in reality to equivocate contemplating the use of a legal method to remove a president, which is written into our Constitution, with a Coup, is ridiculous. It is part of our Constitution. We might as well label elections as coups and define candidates conspirators. Plus the fact that there is such a high bar to actually oust a president via the 25th amendment that talking about it like it almost actually happened like a failed coup attempt when it never even reached phase one is the height of exaggeration, distortion and manipulation for political purposes.

It is time we stopped letting our crazy national media drive us like cattle.

This article is a designed fallacy. No one who occupies the oval office is anyone that is not owned 120% by the powers-that-be. They own that office and anyone who occupies it. And whoever occupies it is nothing more than a flunky-frontman-order-taking-owned-worthless-moron. This person has no power to make any decisions, including what tie he is going to wear on a given day. This article, the mainstream news propaganda maggpts, the ‘fake’ alternaye news media sites, like this one, ad-on-in-finitem and ad-naseum, all try to spin that Trump is against the ‘shadow-government-, that he is ‘draining-the–swamp, when he is doing exactly what they want him to do, which benefits a handful of wealthy miscreants and Joo bankers. But, I can guarantee that this type of putrid upchucking is thoroughly believed and lapped up like a shit-eating cocker spaniel.

Jake

February 19, 2019 at 01:14

Did you forget to take your meds today?

At the very least Trump has attempted to slow the neoliberal process of exporting jobs for low wages by implementing tariffs and penalties on corporations who continue to exploit loopholes and fuck over the average working American.

Either way you need to provide proof to your asinine claims. At the very least bless us uneducated heathens with real news sites rather than this one which you call a fake alternative. I’m eagerly waiting with bated breath.

KiwiAntz

February 17, 2019 at 17:13

Isn’t it ironic? Like the Alanis Morrisette song? The very Nation, called America, that has meddled, interfered & committed at least 70-80 Regime change Coups throughout the World is now facing a domestic, slow motion Coup to oust Trump from power? Well if any organisation is capable of committing this travesty & is expert in this coup operation due to their past experience & history & even more relevant with their latest Venezuela experiment, its the American Govt & its shadow Govt, made up of the Deepstate! Coups R US? That should be the bumper sticker stuck on every car in America!

Maxwell Quest

February 17, 2019 at 17:09

“We have a way to depose presidents. They’re called ‘elections.’” – John Kiriakou

It’s become more obvious to the average Joe, particularly since 2016, that US elections in the current two-party system are basically a democratic illusion, fooling voters into thinking that they have some control over US policy, and therefore their own future. As George Carlin would say, “you are given the choice between Coke or Pepsi”, both candidates already being thoroughly vetted and bought off by the elite beforehand.

Trump’s problem was that he slipped past the kingmakers, while they were busy counting their Hillary chickens. Because she was such a weak candidate, with tons of baggage and negatives, they needed her to run against a real buffoon, a straw-man, a real pussy-grabber, someone she could easily knock over on her way to victory. Therefore, all the traditional gatekeepers, like the media, were told to stand down. Instead, it was “Go ahead and give him all the air time you can. Shine a bright light on his idiocy, then they’ll have no choice but to vote for Hillary. We’ve got this!”

What was the coup attempt on Trump, but “damage control” for an election gone haywire, because Hillary wanted to do it her way.

Also Integrity Initiative infiltrated the Sanders campaign and boosted anti-Jill Stein messaging. The only good thing about all this investigations nonsense is that we see how blatantly rigged and/or manipulated US elections are by intelligence agencies on top of the pre-manipulation by the corporate giants.

Jill Stein is a Russian asset. See picture of her sitting at the same table with Putin in Moscow during the last campaign.

Realist

February 19, 2019 at 05:35

Obomber and Dubya had much more face time with Putin than the Donald has dared attempt. I guess by the standards you use, the last two clucks to occupy the White House were far greater Russian assets than Trump.

You should know that the real Russian hard line nationalists think that Putin is too much an American asset. They are who Washington gets if it succeeds in changing the regime in Moscow. But fools just sneer when Stephen F. Cohen speaks truth about a society he has spent his lifetime studying.

Skip Scott

February 19, 2019 at 10:29

Wow, you’ve really swallowed a lot of Kool Aid. How did you find your way to CN?

John Kiriakou

February 19, 2019 at 11:52

Jesse Ventura was sitting at the same table. Is he a Russian asset? I was invited to that same dinner, but did not attend. Does that make me a Russian asset? What do you base this opinion on? If you indeed have information that Jill Stein is a Russian asset, I urge you to call the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division immediately. It is your civil duty. Oh, I didn’t think so.

The Russia ruse McCarthyism is useful for so many different things…at least republican used it against their enemies Democrats use it against on their OWN….every progressive or anti war candidate to the left of Hillary will be smeared as a Russian agent and its already happening.

Kenneth Fingeret

February 18, 2019 at 08:13

Hello Tom,
“OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE WHEN WE FIRST PRACTICE TO DECEIVE”. This is an apt description of the infestation of the Snake Pits in Washington, DC as well as many of the other capitals of power around the globe!. Scum rules now and will do so well on into the future.
Yours,
Kenneth Fingeret

Thank you John Kiriakou. If it can happen to you it can happen to anyone. We must return to the rule of law for all. No more two-tier levels of justice as justice should be blind.

Branimir

February 17, 2019 at 15:11

Thank John!
For your courage in the past and this excellent article.

chucknobomb

February 17, 2019 at 15:09

TY PVB. Sorry to shout. Help wanted, now! Have a nice day & night. Wage Peace and Justice….Feb. 23rd, Get In The Streets. No Blood For OIl. The u.s wants Oil profits from Venezuela. A SICK COUNTRY (u.s,}. Help Wanted. Feb. 23 Get In The Streets. Thanks. Keep On…

subito illuminatur

February 17, 2019 at 14:36

“We have a way to depose presidents. They’re called “elections.” The FBI should familiarize itself with them.”

The Electoral system has absolutely no duty nor right of obligation to the voters.

Electors can vote any way they want.

Anyone that truly knows anything about the true workings of the Electoral College knows there are massive lobbying efforts at hand, behind the scenes.

Thus elections are mere propaganda, designed to instill legitimacy into a wholly illegitimate political system & government.

A few “rogue” or corrupt FBI Agents and/or Dem Operatives do not make the true “Deep State”.

The true “Deep State” used to be called the Iron Triangle, and includes ALL the security/intelligence agencies, corporate Lords, and Politicians.

The true “Deep State” includes membership & influence in organizations like the Atlantic Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum, etc.
It transcends mere “partisan” foolishness.

Trump is an Entertainer, first and foremost.
His job, like that of all Politicians, is to lead their followers.

Just as Trump claims to “fight the elite”, despite continuing to enrich and empower those same elite (as has his predecessors), serving in reality to distract, so goes his “fight” against the “Deep State”.

By identifying a pseudo-Deep State, and attacking a few insignificant players in that “fight”, he distracts from the ongoing malfeasance of the true Deep State.

Regardless whether Hillary or Trump, the true Deep State would have ensured their pre-deterined policies….all that would have changed are the distractionary tactics used to achieve those end-goals.

Presidential candidates are limited to those whom have shown unwavering loyalties and obedience to the establishment system.

The true ruling elite, those controlling the true Deep State, would never allow a truly rogue Politician, nor the will of the people to truly disrupt their power base and control.

Hillary called for higher taxes, Trump lower, yet those taxes were raised, in the form of Tariffs, under Trump.
Either way, the top .001 percent would have seen their tax burdens lessened.

Hillary called for greater globization, Trump for lesser, yet globalism continues it massive rise, under the guise of “Nationalism”.
The Oligarchs of the U.S., China, Mexico, the E.U., even Russia continue massive, inequitable gains.

The elite continue to win, the masses continue to lose.

Take a look at Russian state-controlled media….it’s doing the exact same as the U.S. media. Both are calling out the problems of the other, whilst ignoring their own growing domestic problems.

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are.”
“The Social Contract”
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway.”
Edward Bernays – Propaganda

Leroy

February 18, 2019 at 20:45

So what is to be done to change the system you describe? In the end is it not the way humanity plays out? Perhaps once one tribes wins, then there can be peace on earth, albiet with a lot of suffering along the way. Or perhaps as ‘apes with nukes’ we destroy ourselves without one tribe ever fully taking control. It does not seem possible to change the system and the way things are done.

Babyl-on

February 17, 2019 at 13:13

Thomas Piketty in his typically tedious economic research, has shown that there is and has been for centuries a core block of Western capital. This core capital has not in the past 500 years ever had a year of loss, they gained in profit ALWAYS no matter the empire or democracy war or peace – that is EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

Institutions are instruments of power they are not power itself. These institutions are given instructions by those who represent the core block of Western capital. The US government and all its agencies serve ONLY the interests of core capital.

Today that block of core capital has grown to over 41 trillion dollars. It is the largest block of capital anywhere in the world, it’s influence is deeply saturated throughout Western society and culture.

Peter Phillips has produced a tremendous book providing the evidence of this block of capital and the structure which communicates its orders to the World Bank, Fed and the “deep state” and the EU and its institutions. GIANTS: The Global Power Elite.

There are no secret societies running the world the power elites do it in plane sight. We know their names from history and in the present. Metici, Borgas – parts of those fortunes are in the 41 trillion. Rockefeller, Rothschild, Buffet are in the world today. Robert Kagen and his forces which represent the 41 trillion ALWAYS get what they want and they have for 500 years. Imagine, 500 years of taking more “profits” than any other faction of the population. But it is not just business, there is also theft, the way England stole in today’s dollars 45 trillion dollars worth of goods from India – they simply set up a shell game and took everything and paid nothing. This is why their fortunes grow so much better than others – just outright theft. It is not a capitalist system, it is Feudalism.

This basic block of Western capital is openly pro war because within the 41 trillion are the arms corporations which they control just as one example.

The methods of this, possibly the most enduring power unit in human history, are clear throughout the historical record. They are ruthless, ALWAYS advancing pushing probing looking for opportunities. They never rest or give any quarter. Governments come and go, empires come and go but the core capital under any and all conditions profits every year.

While the phrase was first written in the years after WWII “Global full spectrum domination.” has been the marching order for this capital for centuries.

This small group of elites will settle for nothing except everything. For them there is no morality, no good guys or bad buys, just winners and losers…and they have won every battle for power and money for 500 years, even in years where things didn’t go well they still made more that the economic growth of the economy.

It is the power of that 41 trillion which is destroying the planet and making perpetual war for their own pleasures and profit.

Talk of impeachment of a president or “The Constitution” changing the government are useless acts unless you can come up with a plan to take the assets of these monsters and to distribute them appropriately so that human institutions serve people instead of slaughtering for profit elites.

It is going to be far more difficult to deal with entrenched elites with a 500 year success record but until its power is finally dissipated.

Idimalink

February 17, 2019 at 12:08

The FBI, CIA, the NSA and other three-letter agencies are the enemy. Their spooks must exposed as perpetrators of crime; heinous crimes.

errorum propagationi

February 17, 2019 at 14:55

“The FBI, CIA, the NSA and other three-letter agencies are the enemy. Their spooks must exposed as perpetrators of crime; heinous crimes.”

And yet despite the tough-talking, empty-rhetoric, Trump continues to bow to the same.
Their crimes continue.

The NSA is STILL collecting all data from EVERY citizen of the U.S., yet Trump has ensured even-greater secrecy of those actions by that agency.

The CIA is STILL interfering in the politics of other countries, and STILL running drugs.

Trump continues to call for the draconian prosecution of those whom sought to expose the actions of these agencies.

Propaganda only works when it isn’t recognized as such.

Trump’s actions are called the propaganda of diversion & distraction.

Both Trump and Hillary were HIGHLY unpopular, yet the mindless masses are forced into not only accepting either, but ultimately defending the instilled “leader”.

You are proof of the effectivness of that propaganda.

Trump is an Entertainer, first and foremost.
His job is to lead mere followers like you to believing the roles he plays, into accepting the same wholly corrupted system.

“Partisan” politics is increasingly being scripted like episodes of entertainment, like the Jerry Springer show.

Have you ever bothered to consider that the largest “news” media are similarly owned by the same corporations that own the largest entertainement media?
I used to work for a image & footage library…..the firms are using stock images, video & sound for both their entertainment & “news”.

Have you ever bothered to examine the true underlying ownership of the highly consolidated corporate media?
CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc are all largely owned by the same firms, via large stock holdings.

Trump is an Entertainer serving each of these subsidiaries.
The viewership/ratings of each has climbed.
The more “contention” (mere diversion & distraction) Trump creates, the more the loyal viewers of these media continue to indulge in the nonsense.

“Partisan” followers, the sheep, are doing the same of their respective parties, each of which are controlled by the same elite.
Don’t believe it, take a look at the campaign finance & investment portfolios of the largest candidates of each party (including the “Dems”, “GOP”, “Progs” and “Libertarians”).

The true “Deep State” is much larger than Trump.
Those few Agents he has called-out & sought to damage, are just small cogs in the much larger system.

Spot on. Trump is PT Barnum, not Martin Luther King. He’s not fighting to “save America from the Deep State.” Trump’s a clown riding a unicycle juggling chainsaws. He’s a circus charletan, not some hero demolishing the FBI to save John Q Public from the spooks. Sheep indeed.

Is that why the deep state and Corporate media has pushed Trump from the right wing ?……..why they went after Gen Flynn?
Went after all the others and for “crimes ” that wouldn’t be prosecuted except for Trump?

Why ignore the facts ….Trump wanted to work with Russia and was called a Traitor and Putin Puppet and pushed away from working with Russia and into the arms of the Neo cons….

Why ignore the facts….Trump tried to pull us out of Syria and Afghanistan and the neocons pull him back in and ignore his policy.

why ignore the facts that the neo cons wanted Trump GONE as this article proved….

There are no good guys but there are worse guys and when Trump tried to to the right thing { like seeking PEACE} he was pilloried and condemned by the neo cons and Democrats who are so out of their minds they pine for nuclear war with Russia just so Trump get hurt…..

nelswight

February 18, 2019 at 16:46

Thank you, Peter, for your thoughts. As a fellow man of medicine, I find it difficult to swallow your prescriptions. Did you use Prozac
much in your work or chez vous?

Scott Hunter

February 17, 2019 at 11:49

Spot on!!! Accountability is the next step…Integrity is the key and has always been the key to walking a path that brings contentment.

Thank you for your service John Kiriakou!!!

Billy

February 17, 2019 at 11:47

The Emsils reveal Hillary cheated Bernie. She needed to distract. Brennan, Clapper and the FBI assisted her. When she lost they switched over from distract to removal mode. The entire MSM is also complicate in this illegal coup. They’re not fake news they’re propagandist.

I like John and the information he puts out for us. But I just don’t buy this. I see this just as I did the 2016 election cycle for the republican party. A circus of over 21 candidates and everyone and the media all against Trump. But who got all the free time in the media and ended up being the president? I didn’t buy the fake disdain from the republicans towards Trump because I knew they were licking their chops wanting him in their. With Trump they could take the country to the right as far as they wanted. And here we are looking at a fascist state now. The US has leaped right into the fire of the fourth reich. All that in 2016 was us being duped into a false illusion of Trump can’t possibly win while the plan was make him win. I honestly believe the whole 2016 election cycle was one big illusion to take over the country. A coup over the population.

Trump and these intelligence agencies are working just fine together. This is all just another illusion as the country continues to move towards fascism with the rest of the world. Still working together in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Africa and a list of other countries, along with right here among us is the FBI. After all, right there in the article it states as much. These entities and Trump essentially have the same agenda. And what we;re getting is a dose of perception management to duped us from the reality of it being the reality. And just like the founder of this news site has taught us, the media is the tool to make it work for them.

Anne Jaclard

February 17, 2019 at 21:19

Agree that Trump is a corporate military-intelligence flunky like his predecessors but that doesn’t justify the FBI/CIA manipulation, as it was based merely on dovish (but ignored in office, of course) campaign rhetoric. What if Tulsi Gabbard or Bernie Sanders, or somebody better than either of them (neither are super great) get spied upon or ousted by a militarist cabal for the same reasons?

Michael

February 18, 2019 at 09:19

Possibly “dovishness” was responsible (the MSM treatment of Tulsi Gabbard cannot be blamed on much else). However I think more likely Obama/ Hillary quickly bought into the grand W/Cheney plans and the Establishment Intelligence Agencies thought they were looking at 24 straight years of unfettered covert regime changes, playing with other peoples’ lives. Who knew that the attacks on the clownish Trump orchestrated by CIA-controlled media owners would lead to huge ratings boosts and turn the attacked Trump into a sympathetic figure?
It seems likely that both Justice/FBI and CIA were using cutouts initially (New Knowledge, Crowdstrike and Fusion GPS) to unleash their FISA surveillance of the incoming Trump administration. McCabe and the Ohrs were well over the line, and at some point there has to be accountability. Imprisoning John Kiriakou for relatively minor offenses almost requires a host of fall guys for the present scandal, and I don’t see Trump pardoning any.
Sad to say I voted for Obama the first term, but the secrecy of his administration was a major change from the in-your-face Bush/ Cheney years, and, unprotested and unchecked, led to a secret fascism with More War and More Police State that was totally ignored or even celebrated by his and Hillary’s followers. Trump like a boil has come to the surface, but the disease is much deeper.

MBeaver

February 17, 2019 at 21:44

Fascist state because of Trump?
What?
Please elaborate what has changed so much that the USA is suddenly a fascist state?
Surely youre talking about the lies spread from the left, trying to paint people as something they are not and the MSM being complicit in it.

LJ

February 19, 2019 at 18:59

Move towards Fascism? Now? FDR embraced Fascism in 1939. More men were out of work in 1939 than in 1932. The US Empire emerged Victorious from WW II . The ONLY FASCIST MODEL standing. That is what the MIC is and we are the world’s indispensible nation. . The USA has been an Empire since Teddy Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill when the USA took over Spanish colonies after the Spanish American War. Your straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.

Jeff Harrison

February 17, 2019 at 10:40

It can’t happen here…. I’m telling you my dear, it can’t happen here. – Frank Zappa in a tune of the same name.

But, John, it already has. Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, pissed off that he wasn’t made FBI director at Hoover’s death, brought down a President, Nixon, out of personal pique. He revealed secrets that never should have been secrets to Woodward & Bernstein and brought Nixon down. Our evil ways in the rest of the world have come home to roost. You spoke of the Church committee’s reforms. I doubt there’s much left of Frank Church’s reforms. The three letter surveillance state is the new Praetorian Guard. There is naught to be done but disband the whole lot of ’em if we want our democracy back. I know everybody will be screaming that Oh NO! We can’t do that! But, ah, yes we can (to steal someone else’s bullshit line). The Ticoes of Costa Rica, after they got their government back from the military after a 1948 coup simply disbanded the military. No more military to junta. Haven’t had a coup since. There’s two trite but very true lines:
Bullshit walks and money talks
What goes around comes around. (and it’s starting to come around. We’d better do something about it or we will regret it. But that would mean we’d have to give up our imperial pretensions and we all know that’s not going to happen.)

anon4d2

February 17, 2019 at 21:43

We could certainly re-purpose 80% of our military to building infrastructure in developing nations, without any opposition from them or additional expense, and improve our security and international standing. We could completely eliminate the unconstitutional spying upon citizens without any opposition, and use the same employees for humanitarian purposes.

But of course oligarchy must first be deposed, which historically has required invasion or revolution. Where oligarchy controls mass media and elections, education and activism won’t get us there. Invasion is no longer a likely path. So the revolution will be the bloodiest in history, likely after the mass media are discredited, the economy ruined by foreign embargo, and oligarchy no longer able to provide the bread and circus needed to quell the peasants.

If that string of disasters does not happen, we may have a permanent tyranny, a society that explicitly accepts and honors tyranny, a curse upon humanity until its destruction.

Mary Saunders

February 19, 2019 at 09:51

Is that quotation, “Bullshit walks and money talks,” from Richard Pryor, in Carwash? It is that sort of nitty-gritty, bottom-up stuff that could some day save the U.S. from being the worst cause of misery in human history, with donations to horror in the Middle East and North Africa, and all the horrific blood lost in the global south. The evil in Libya is unspeakable, and who is responsible for that is the person who giggled about it in a ghoulish interview.

Costa Rica disbanded their military, and became an allowed neutral, with with a coup to stop coups.

Trieste, Italy, empowered former mental patients with their carers to form businesses that meet local needs.

Western Lapland had horrific suicide and disability rates and could not longer afford the “medicines” contributing to those issues, so they came up with a program called Open Dialogue to deal with causes and cut their rates of suicide and disability drastically.

Curitiba, Brazil, empowered university students to help houseless persons design their houses, while donating surplus food to them and then collecting their garbage for compost for farmers.

Cheran, Mexico, threw out politicians and got rid of crime.

I love seeing small pilot projects that work. Enlightened persons can read about and maybe visit some of these places, including perhaps, the Anastasia movement in Russia, of the small farms that a UN study indicated could produce the most efficiently, after which the UN top dogs refused to publicize said study. It is called the DeSchutter report I believe. Hippies passed it around anyway.

JOHN WHITE

February 17, 2019 at 10:29

THEY DID NOT COME CLOSE TO A COUP..
THE COUP IS STILL GOING ON ..

Alan Ross

February 17, 2019 at 09:46

Thank you Consortium News, one of the few media sources that would publish such an important and alarming story. The NY Times and the other mainstream media outlets are so subservient to those in power they would never have the courage to print this article. The CIA’s murder wing should have been dissolved long ago, the NSA reigned in, and the FBI put under the control of people who respect the U.S. Constitution.

So now I know what the 25th amendment to the Constitution is about. Impeachment would be messy incapacitation would be quick and half the public, feeling helpless, would soon forget.

Discussion of this reminds me of the things we accused the Stalin regime of doing, which they well may have. Here today, gone tomorrow.

We cannot be sure this is all true, but the mere fact that it is floating around is chilling. Impeachment with its uncertain outcome would be messy, using the 25th amendment would be relatively quick if all your ducks were lined up.

Can we describe the Trump syndrome as anything else than mass hysteria. It has gotten so bad that no matter what Trump proposes, forces go to work to prevent it from happening lest he get credit for it. The merit of what he proposes, be damned, it’s his idea and we are not going to let it happen.

Who and what is at risk. A besieged President, anxious to survive, can do crazy things which his crazy enemies happen to believe are good ideas. Things like detente with Russia are set aside as is an effort to achieve normal relations with North Korea. Things like creating a crisis with Iran or pulling out of a nuclear treaty are either praised or accepted.

It all started minus day one of this guys presidency and it just won’t stop. Hard to say how it could end, but the options are pretty
scary.

The authors point is that we have elections to decide who shall be president and the intoxicated crew in Washington, New York and Hollywood need to accept that.

Eric32

February 17, 2019 at 09:06

This FBI/CIA (plus British intelligence etc.) attempt to destroy and remove an elected President will end the same way as the bank fraud that damaged the US economy 11 yrs ago.

Nothing real will be done, and the disease will just get deeper and more widespread.

MBeaver

February 17, 2019 at 21:51

I often look at politics like I look at software.
If you have bugs, you fix them quickly before they can hurt your customers too much and they decide to ditch your software or look for an alternative somewhere else.
Here they are being ignored for decades and decades and many people exploit them, because they can flourish on them, like a criminal uses bugs in software to circumvent security. Like parasites. But the vast majority and the system itself is getting damaged by them. People adapt to them, and become as dishonest as the minority. It gets worse and worse until there is no way back and ends in a disaster.

Dave

February 17, 2019 at 08:18

Are McCabe and others going to face any consequences for their actions? I have some doubts.

Skip Scott

February 17, 2019 at 07:35

“McCabe said that Justice Department officials believed at the time that Trump may have obstructed justice by firing Comey, and they worried that Trump was somehow under the influence of the Russian government.”

I think what the Intel Agencies were really concerned about was Trump’s statement “wouldn’t it be great to get along with Russia.” They were worried about detente, not influence. Trump threatened to remove their number one bogeyman, which would put at risk trillions of dollars for the MIC. What if he dared to negotiate a nuclear arms reduction treaty? What if he dared to share intelligence regarding terrorists with Russia, as Obama attempted before he was brought to heel? Trump has been emasculated by RussiaGate, and Mueller’s “Theater of the Absurd” continues to ensure that Trump toes the line. The intel agencies don’t need to remove him from power because they are the ones with the REAL power.

(“Trump has been emasculated by RussiaGate, and Mueller’s “Theater of the Absurd” continues to ensure that Trump toes the line.”)

I quite agree, and with your comment in mind I’d say that one could quite rationally argue that in fact a deep state coup “has actually taken place” and was in fact quite successful. Trump will most certainly “not” be normalizing relations with Russia if he wants to remain president. This is the power of the deep state carried out through relentless MSM propaganda, evidence and “reality” be damned.

In such a world “voting” and “democracy” are simply fairy tales “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.” They exist only as meaningless abstractions used to help insure we the populace remain compliant and don’t take to the streets like the Yellow Vests in France. Which of course is our only chance whatsoever to in any meaningfully way impact this completely corrupt uber-violent corporate-feudal paradise we find ourselves now inhabiting.

“The intel agencies don’t need to remove him from power because they are the ones with the REAL power.” – spot on!

Realist

February 18, 2019 at 03:33

“I’d say that one could quite rationally argue that in fact a deep state coup “has actually taken place” and was in fact quite successful.”

Indeed, a regular “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” but without the pods. I’m sure all the right people helped Trump “get his mind right.” Entirely possible it’s what was required of him to maintain any continuing mind-body connection.

Or, he was just the latest iteration of “bait and switch” in American governance. Hopey-changey promises may be useful during a campaign but… Anyone else see the pattern of campaign rhetoric routinely becoming inoperative as of Inauguration Day or soon thereafter? I guess that’s because the Deep State’s secret contract to rule automatically gets renewed on the same date.

Skip Scott

February 18, 2019 at 08:00

That is the real question, isn’t it. Are successive presidents lying during their campaigns, or are they brought to heel after they are elected?

I think back to Bill Clinton chastising Bush the elder for pushing for “most favored nation” trade status with China. After he was elected he did a complete 180 and opened the floodgates of “Free Trade”, which was the beginning of the end for the middle class. Was he lying during his campaign, or was he bribed after he was elected?

Until we get to the root of the problem by obliterating the Deep State, prosecuting our war criminals, and returning to actual “rule of law” it doesn’t matter who is president. Your choice is corporate sponsored war monger from column A or column B. It’s getting close to pitch-fork time.

michael

February 18, 2019 at 09:45

Clinton gave PERMANENT favored nation trade status to Communist China in 2001, and led offshoring not only of jobs, but advanced technologies, including military technology, to China. When the FBI began investigating Chinagate (where China had donated heavily to the Clinton campaign; the DNC returned the donations AFTER the Election, flush with money), their agents were stunned to be told “they should “not pursue any matter related to solicitation of funds for access to the president. The reason given was, ‘That’s the way the American political process works.” This may have been the institutionalization of foreign powers OPENLY engaging in pay-to-play (Israel and Saudi Arabia were surely already getting away with funding candidates). Being above the Law has its advantages.

John P

February 18, 2019 at 00:09

If you think Putin is a nice man, I think you are wrong. He shows many of the traits Trump does (narcissism) but he’s smarter. Here is a synopsis of Canadian Broadcasting Network program, The Fifth Estate, which came out a couple of years ago.

The Fifth Estate : The Conspiracy Files: Putin, the FBI and Donald Trump
Russia:
Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov: Russian mobster also known as Little Taiwan. He is the worlds 3rd most wanted criminal.
He was involved with:
– Late 1990s connection to Russian NHL players and the mob.
– 2002 he was at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City where Canadian ice dance pair Janie Sale / David Pelletier should have won but Russian judge had been bribed and the Russian pair won. He was accused of the bribe and made it back to Russia for safety.
– 2013 April the FBI raided the biggest sports bookie operation in the world (money laundering) at Trump Tower in New York. Alimzhan was in charge of making sure Russian’s money was secure.
– 2013 Nov. in Moscow Trumps business had been paid over $6 million to host the Miss Universe contest, and Alimzhan walked Trump’s red carpet at the event.

Conflict
– 2013 Trump boasted that he had spoken, “ indirectly and directly with Putin.”
– 2016 Trump kept denying he had ever met Putin and that “I don’t know who he is.”
Russian cyber interference had become an issue in the election. Trump dismissed the accusations.

Steele: British MI6 intelligence officer specializing in the Russian field. He thought Trump was coopted and cultivated by the Russians who would have compromising info through telephone interceptions and hotel room cameras.
When asked by the press what precautions Trump had taken when in Russia, his staff refused to answer.

FBI: The FBI was divided over Hillary Clinton. The top elders were more out of politics than the younger newer members who were upset about the 2012 killing of the US Ambassador and some staff members in Libya, and held both Obama and Hillary responsible.

First, Hillary was leading in the polls when the FBI released info about Hillary not using secure communication lines. Secondly, Bannon, a stout Trump supporter began stating that Hillary Clinton had benefitted from funds from the Clinton Foundation which was completely untrue (ranked highly efficient by foundation raters.) Bannon and his cronies had planned this ploy over 3 years. The FBI began to investigate this funding claim too.

The FBI was split.

In time FBI’s Comey announces the investigation into Hillary’s emails is closed for lack of evidence.

Trump is hurt by comments he made which were recorded and released, talking about easy sexual abuse of women. In time, 4 women came forward claiming boorish Trump behaviour.

The poles jump up for Hillary. Juliani (ex mayor of New York), supporting Trump than states 3 days before its release that something big is coming. The election is only a short time away. 3 days on, Comey announces a new investigation into Hillary’s emails.

Russia Today (RT) news agency makes clear that Putin didn’t want Hillary as US president, and also states that he, Putin, never met Trump. RT also said that Hillary had a health problem (not explained.) Pictures were then released of Bill Clinton with two of his ranch girls.

Liz Wall an anchor at RT quit because she said the Russians are lying about the Ukraine. She had been told to state the Russians weren’t there.

Trump trumpets: “Russia if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

Then came the election. Hillary won the popular vote but Trump won the electoral college.

And of course Trump is always right, Huh. The rich pay less tax now (and trickle down which Reagan brought in has been proven false), the Palestinians suffer more as International Law is further tossed out the window, and he’s a chronic liar who knows how to use certain individuals to his advantage. The poor and middle class are his game in his hunt for prestige but many don’t see it. And the dolt doesn’t believe in climate change (this year is just weather, not the trend of climate change – for heat look at Australia fires and storms).

Skip Scott

February 18, 2019 at 11:24

John P-

I am no fan of Trump, but you are grasping at straws for a Russian connection that doesn’t exist. And the majority of the Russian people continue to think Putin is doing a fine job; and that’s their decision to make, not ours.

jadez

February 17, 2019 at 06:46

MAYBE MR John Kiriakou should familiarize himself with the Constitution..and the 25th amendment which he acknowledges was to be used to “oust”..a sitting president.

i do not disagree or challenge his integrity regarding the actions of the agencies he writes about…yet at the same time…to dismiss out of hand a constitutional avenue of removing a president for say BEING an actual agent of a foreign government…can not be dismissed based strictly on the idea that presidents “come and go”!

Abby

February 18, 2019 at 00:29

I’m pretty sure that Kiriakou knows all about the constitution and the 25th amendment. The problem that he’s discussing here is that if a president is unfit to continue his presidency then it’s up to his cabinet and congress to remove him, not the intelligence agency’s job.

Where was the proof that Trump was being an actual agent of a foreign government? There was none at the time of this attempted coup and so far Mueller hasn’t shown any. Manafort is guilty of breaking tax laws, not anything to do with collusion with people in Russia. Nor has he shown that anyone else was or is either. And do you honestly think that if a president was working with a foreign government that congress would just sit patiently by as Mueller dragged his feet for two years looking into that? I think not.

Michael

February 18, 2019 at 10:04

Agreed, the Intelligence Agencies have no role in executing removal of the President by the 25th Amendment nor does the Military; either would constitute a coup. The Vice President and a majority the fifteen cabinet heads (including Attorney General, Secretaries of Homeland Security, State, Defense and Energy, which are the only five of fifteen that have real Intelligence connections) would make the initial determination of “unfitness”, and if two thirds of both House and Senate agree, then the VP becomes President. If the FBI or CIA or other lower bureaucracies try to independently make such determinations, that would be sedition, and they should face much longer sentences than John Kiriakou (who did a public service by exposing torture and then was imprisoned by Obama after the Bush administration decided there was no crime).

Quercus alba

February 18, 2019 at 09:42

The 25th is for when a President is unable, mentally or physically, to conduct the affairs of the Executive Branch. That is, he’s become stark raving insane, or he’s had a stroke which renders him completely unable to communicate, that sort of thing. The example you bring up- being an actual agent of a foreign government- is a high crime. That would be covered by impeachment. McCabe was talking about the 25th, an area where the FBI/DOJ have zero purview or expertise. So, yes, McCabe’s discussion of the 25th is tantamount to a coup d’etat- treason.

Skip Scott

February 18, 2019 at 11:20

Yes, good point and succinctly put.

Seby

February 17, 2019 at 05:02

Excellent in more detailed analysis of this power struggle in the US plutocracy at NEO recently.

A much more detailed and documented analysis on this topic was put forth in a book published last year: A Tale of Two Factions: The US Power Structure Since World War II by Joseph Raso.

Howard Beale

February 17, 2019 at 03:53

Instead of a coup we ended up with a cuckoo.

Joe Tedesky

February 17, 2019 at 01:13

Very well said Mr Kiriakou and, honest too.

KiwiAntz

February 17, 2019 at 00:48

McCabe & the entire Cabal of Obama’s Intelligence cronies that Trump sacked, need to be arrested & charged with high Treason with the Death Penalty as punishment for these criminals? Although I despise Trump, the fact is he was fairly elected by tge American people & to have his Presidency underminded because the Clintons & Democratic Party have tried to reverse that Election outcome is despicable! And the 25th Amendment to remove a sitting President is only an option for a President that has been incapacitated due to illness or injury, its not to be used to oust a President based on the fact that you don’t like him or the Election result!

Billy

February 16, 2019 at 23:45

The whole charade has been a eye opener. The sheer number of participants in the phony Russia meddled fairy tale is mind boggling. Practically the entire MSM have repeated hundreds or thousands of times that Russia positively hacked the DNC. When the Clapper hand picked analysts themselves wouldn’t even go that far. Even Bernie Sanders went along with those unproven allegations. He knew damn well better, yet he spouted the talking points with the rest of them. Hell I would bet that 99% of these unethical dishonest people crying “Russia! Russia! Putin! Putin!” Knew damn well it was a fabricated plot to dispose of Trump. That said, if the coup succeeded. I’d have trouble feeling sorry for the scumbag. Bolton, Pompeo, Abrams are the lowest evil lifeforms on the planet. Trump and these garbage humans are trying to do to Maduro. The same thing Hillary’s neocon acolytes are doing to Trump. I do support the truth though. So I hope all the coup plotters will be held accountable. I fear that hope is wasted though. Great article John keep up the good fight.

CitizenOne

February 16, 2019 at 23:45

It is oddly enough a game that is played out by these agencies in foreign interventions turned toward the President of the United States. The reasons for interference and election meddling in the various third world countries is unsettling and has a sordid history of using the media and the federal agencies like the CIA to overthrow foreign governments. It is quite another thing that the CIA and FBI would use their powers to imagine a coup against an American president.

The media and the federal agencies that condemn Trump also likely had a hand in the 1960s as the USSR was seen as an existential threat. The president then was calling for peace and was making public speeches to end nuclear proliferation and to cause an end of the cold war by calling for an end of hostilities.

Some historians believe that it was this address that resulted in the election of a new president who reversed course and went to war with the Chinese and the USSR in Vietnam as the three superpowers battled out a war between the ideological frameworks of capitalism versus communism. This was a continuation of “The Domino Theory” which postulated that Communism would take over the entire World if left unchecked.

We went to war, lost a war and saw that the World did not fall to Communism. So large was the failure of the intelligence agencies who ginned up an unprecedented war that today Vietnam, although they won the war, is now a peaceful country despite all of the dire warnings and military actions which were fueled by our military industrial complex.

Bob Van Noy

February 17, 2019 at 21:49

Many thanks Citizen One. That was the profound message of Errol Morris’ “Fog Of War” The Domino Theory was simply Wrong…

It’s not that the consideration of a coup seems unlikely, nor that Kiriakou does badly to bring up the point. It’s that it is unlikely that the spectre of “Russian hacking” has much to do with any of it.

There has never been much reason to imagine any significant Russian interference in the ’16 election; therefore, there was not much reason for the FBI to consider it as plausible. Presumably it was clear to the FBI as of 2016 that they had no evidence of that sort, even if it was not clear at that time that no such evidence existed.

At the same time, the evidence does more than suggest DNC and much media rigging of the nomination process and the acceptance of funds from five foreign governments, those same functioning ISIS. This came along a somewhat less concrete suggestion of other serious and actionable offenses. At one point,. James Comey suggested publicly to the DOJ that evidence existed for prosecution. The DOJ refused to prosecute. Comey rescinded his statement. The media dropped the point almost immediately.

It is unlikely that Comey’s waffling comes from any unclarity about the massive evidence provided by Wikileaks. The suggestion that Comey wished to damage the Clinton campaign has no value at all because that evidence did exist, whatever Comey’s opinions about its utility, so that he could easily have stuck to his guns had he wished to do so–at least in terms of legality.

But he did not. Was he bribed or threatened, or did the DOJ’s refusal just let him off the hook for some possible culpability at some point down the line, when more of the background stories might emerge?

I think that we are looking here for an entity that could threaten Comey and the FBI and also infiltrate the organization with with sufficient bravado to openly discuss a coup.

Realist

February 16, 2019 at 23:25

Thanks to John Kiriakou for laying bare the anti-democratic and unconstitutional attitudes that prevail within the major spook agencies. These people believe they are special, above the rest of us, and have the prerogatives of overturning the popular will expressed in elections. They assume the right to sit in judgment on their chief executive, and other high profile Americans such as Martin Luther King, and to sabotage their policies or movements when, being merely a few sundry departments of many under the aegis of the executive branch of government and serving at the pleasure of the president they have no whisper of such a right under our constitution.

What they presume is the right to commit treason and foment coups based strictly on the privilege of the inside information they possess. Insiders running around with such notions are more dangerous than loaded guns lying all about.

Rather than quaking in his boots with almost religious awe at the fiendish capabilities of these megalomaniacs, what Mr. Schumer should really be contemplating is how to control and extract such individuals from their positions of high power. Perhaps all the spook agencies need to be thoroughly investigated by congress, aired out, cleaned out, and totally reconstructed along lines more compatible with the world’s self-proclaimed greatest democracy and most exceptional country on the planet.

Otherwise, what we’ve got is just an ersatz “democracy” that luxuriates and bloviates in the mere trappings of freedom, fairness, due process, transparency and majority rule. What we’ve got is not much different from all the tyrannies this country’s government and its chest-thumping, cheer-leading, propaganda-spouting jingoistic media just lives and loves to bash. Clearly it assumes that it, above all others, understands exactly which individuals are best suited to be placed in power at the head of every sovereign nation on earth, even if that means bloody coup d’etats and violent regime change in every corner of the planet.

Such attitude is a natural outgrowth of the assumption these goons have made on usurping the rights of the American electorate to choose our leaders. Well, at any rate, on the right of our aristocracy to make such choices in our place with a wink and a nod. Rooting out the traitors in the intel agencies should have far greater priority than overthrowing elected presidents, if we want to restore the democratic republic our founders had intended.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kiriakou only identified one critical faction within the Deep State when he fingered the intel agencies. The intel agencies have plenty of firepower backing them up in furtively running the madhouse known as the United States of America in the form of the Pentagon, the entire Military Industrial Complex, the mega-banks, and trans-national financiers (many not even American citizens). The executive, legislature and courts have been reduced to bit-playing figureheads over recent history–at least since World War II. All those moving parts would have to be stripped, repaired and replaced to effect the desired result of those constitutionally-described bodies being able to once again call the shots as originally intended.

Believe me, the entire Deep State is going to resist any such shakeup with a united front employing all the power, influence and dirt at their disposal, since the devil is in the details and only they know them inside and out. Ha, Schumer and the rest of the puppet show only find their way to the men’s room if the Deep State decides they have a need to know its whereabouts.

It would be nice if a few more retired spooks in addition to the likes of Kiriakou, Giraldi, and McGovern got on the bandwagon and deposed their former colleagues for the many coups and even potential assassinations that have undoubtedly been simultaneously perpetrated both against us and in our name! But it won’t be necessary, as I’m sure most of the readers here had suspected as much treachery from the very beginning–starting on election night, as did I.

Gregory Herr

February 17, 2019 at 13:45

I was reading Dmitry Orlov’s beautifully written translation of “Putin’s Lasting State”, an explanation of modern Russian governance by a close advisor to Putin, Vladislav Surkov. As part of setting up a contrast for understanding “deep nation” as opposed to “deep state” Surkov offers a reading of our deep state:

“The term indicates a harsh, absolutely nondemocratic networked organization of real authoritarian structures hidden behind showy democratic institutions. This mechanism, which in practice exerts its authority through acts of violence, bribery and manipulation, and remains hidden deep beneath the surface of a hypocritical and simple-minded civil society which it manipulates while bribing or repressing all who accuse it…From the depths and darkness of this un-exhibited and unadvertised power there float up shining mirages of democracy special-made for mass consumption that feature the illusion of choice, the feeling of freedom, delusions of superiority and so on.”

What in the world are we keeping Guantanamo open for if we don’t throw these Deep State coup mongers, cuffed, hooded & orange-jump-suited, in it??!! This has been a rolling intelligence (duh!) community coup/ regime change op at least since Operation Crossfire Hurricane in early 2016. It has become a political cancer infecting the entire body politic and scrambled the brains of most of the gen pop. Compared to this Constitution-corrupting monstrosity, Watergate was an extended SNL skit. For America, there may be no coming back from this. That IS Breaking News!

Seby

February 16, 2019 at 23:09

“Elections” I’m glad you put the word in quotation marks.

Because the US election process and voting systems are the biggest bad joke on democracy on the planet.

Toltectom

February 17, 2019 at 05:23

Thought I’d provide a footnote. Jonathan Simon “Code Red”. Mr. Simon points out that most of our ballots are not publically counted and official results frequently differ significantly from exit polling. Moreover, the disparity is consistently to the right, the so called “red shift”.

Cold N. Holefield

February 16, 2019 at 23:03

“What McCabe described is nothing less than a coup attempt”. This is what a monstrous proportion of the American population does not understand. A President has four to eight years. CIA or FBI have positions that bypass that and are not under an iota of the same amount of scrutiny. They have much more leverage behind the scenes. It reminds me of the “Mind the Gap” signs on the London tram. People chose to look straight ahead, and not down into the gap and explore in deep inner workings of our government and agencies. I set out to do this every day. These great agencies with the impressive initials are here to protect Americans, so think the Americans.How many people do you think really know or would even believe the truth about what the agencies have done. They were tried to destroy MLK? They would would be clutching their pearls and fanning themselves refusing to believe this piece of irrefutable truth. At least people are starting to believe the spying and NSA stuff. Minimal icons. This is a thought provoking piece of writing and the author has the background to discuss these topics- mission accomplished, it’s exquisite.

Tiu

February 16, 2019 at 22:43

They’re all just actors in the greatest con of the 20th century.
There is no democracy, it’s just an illusion. The President is irrelevant.

Billy

February 16, 2019 at 23:56

There’s really not a democracy. The primary process is designed to make sure that the choice on the ballot. Is between either a pro war profiteer pro corporate candidate or a pro war profiteer pro corporate candidate. If that plan fails, there’s alway assassination. Or nowadays they’d prolly just find child porn on the usurpers computer.

Anne Jaclard

February 17, 2019 at 21:23

I’ve always beleived that US democracy is no different than Iran’s – in Iran candidates are screened by religious officials, whereas in the US they are screened by lobbyists and donors. No difference except that religion has some form of morality (no matter how twisted) associated with it.